Pretty eyes of Midsummer's Morn
by Just Another Fanatic
Summary: The next Triwizard Tournament involving Dennis Creevey and some of his fellow 6th and 7th year students at Beauxbatons. This time, however, the real challenge is breaking down the social boundries between rivalry houses and classes.
1. Good boy

Chapter 1- Good Boy

October 29th, 1999

Dennis Creevey sighed looking over at Dawn Parkinson on the other side of the dining car brushing her long black hair. He did not care that she was a Slytherin, she was absolutely beautiful. Looking nothing like her older sister Pansy the Pug, Dawn was thin and shapely. She had pale skin with rosy cheeks and pink lips. Her eyes were a dark blue with traces of violet and they were shadowed with long eyelashes.

"Why does he keep looking at me?" Dawn asked her friend Malcolm Baddock.

"The mudblood fancies you," Baddock responded in a snigger.

A smirk broke onto Dawn's face, which Dennis mistook as a soft smile. He figured he hadn't had a chance with her last year, but over the summer he had grown up a lot, and not only physically but mentally. Not only was he now rather tall, but he had strong muscles and an adult sense of humor too. His mousy hair had grown a little and gave him a rock star look about him, a look that new magical music sensation, Peter Briggs, decided to borrow after seeing Dennis buying books at Flourish and Blotts.

"Creevey," Kevin Whitby of Hufflepuff, who still was thin and short even though they were now seventeen, called to Dennis from the entrance of the cart. "What do they have for us to eat in here?"

"The usual, mate" Dennis said as Kevin threw his bag on the seat across from Dennis. There was only one seat left at the table, and that was next to Dennis. Dawn was the only person who had not claimed a seat yet. Dennis felt his whole body tighten as Dawn proceeded to put her hairbrush back in her bag and approached the small dining table in the remodeled Hogwarts Expressed.

"Aren't you at all excited to be going to Beauxbatons?" Kevin asked. "You could be in the Triwizard Tournament."

"I know that," Dennis hissed in a low voice so Dawn couldn't hear him, "but…" he slightly moved his head in Dawn's direction.

"Just ask her out then," Kevin suggested piling his plate high with potatoes, peas, and turkey. Kevin poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice and then offered to pour Dennis some too, but Dennis shook his head.

"Mr. Whitby," Professor Dumbledore approached the table, depending greatly on his cane because of an injury he had received from Voldemort three years earlier. "I thought we agreed not to begin dinner until everyone was seated at the table."

"I didn't start to eat yet, Professor," Kevin stated, "I just put the food on my plate."

"Very well," Dumbledore said with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. "But since we are now all here, let's eat."

Dennis found he was too nervous to eat. His heart was beating so loudly he could not hear Dawn when she first asked, "Please pass the salt."

"Dennis," Kevin kicked him. Dennis finally regained his senses.

"Could you pass the salt?"

"Yeah," Dennis stammered, "of course." He was so surprised she talked to him, he forgot the actually pass it.

Dawn smiled and leaned close to Dennis. She reached across him and grabbed the salt herself, flashing a seductive smile at Dennis. She was so close, Dennis could smell her.

"Mr. Creevey," Dumbledore said, "if you say that you will pass the salt, the proper action to take is to pass the salt."

Dennis turned a deep red as most of the table burst out laughing. "Sorry," he muttered. Dawn rolled her eyes as she salted her food.

There were eleven teens traveling from Hogwarts to Beauxbatons for the Triwizard Tournament. Two Ravenclaws (Quidditch captain Curran Davies and the first ranked 7th year, Stella Kuo), two Gryffindors (Dennis and Lena Grogan), three Hufflepuffs (Kevin, his older sister Theresa and the expected Head Boy if it had not been for the tournament, Dwight Frost), and four Slytherins (Dawn, Baddock, Vidya Tummala, and the unknown maurderer, Leo Pasts).

Curran Davies, much like his older brother Roger, made himself known as an intelligent athlete. He made the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team his third year and became captain during his fifth year. He decided that it would be more valuable for himself and the team to allow his team to find a new Chaser when the Slytherin team had no chance of winning a single game while he tried to win the Triwizard Tournament. Curran had brown hair that hung just above his eyes, and stood awkwardly being six feet tall but only weighing 120 pounds. His good friend and fellow 7th year student, Stella Kuo was much different. Though she rarely did anything but practice Divination, she was able to get straight O's in every class. She was the only student in the past decade to get all O's on her O.W.L.'s and she kept up all her classes with the help of a time turner provided to her by Professor Flitwick and Dumbledore, just as she had found out Hermione Granger had done the year Stella entered school. Stella had straight black hair that fell down to just above her shoulders. She was skinny, but this did not mean she had the figure that reeled in all the guys.

Lena Grogan was what some would call a clutz. And not just that, but having lived in America for eight years, had the tendency to use American slang, such as "Whatever!" Aside from that, Lena easily could wrap a boy around her finger because she had beautiful long red hair, acid green eyes, and a body not much different from Cindy Crawford. She had already gotten Dennis to be her puppy for half of their fourth year until Dennis finally realized that she was into a boy two years older. All of Lena's life, she had gotten everything she wanted, except for mounds of gold and Harry Potter.

The Hufflepuff team was by far the most honorable all around. All of them tried their hardest at whatever task was at hand, and all of them received good grades on account of their efforts. Kevin had short blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He usually did not know when to keep quiet or when to speak, but made sure to keep his mouth shut about Dennis liking Dawn, his one and only kept secret. His sister, a year ahead of him in school, Theresa, looked much like him, only, she was not as skinny. Theresa had what Baddock called, "Flubber enough to keep her warm under water." Because of constant taunts from Slytherins, she easily lost her temper and cursed those who snickered at her when she walked by. Dwight Frost was a tall, lean, black boy with an eye for picking out where trouble will be and how to avoid it at all costs. He was actually offered the position as Head Boy, but knew that he would only be able to do that or the tournament, and believed that the tournament would look better on an application to be an Auror.

Finally, the Slytherins. Baddock was as mean as his name made him out to be. He was constantly teasing anyone who made the slightest mistake; this went as far as him laughing at Draco Malfoy for not beating the Hufflepuff seeker to the snitch at one of the Quidditch games two years earlier. Baddock had greasy brown hair matted to his head that the Ravenclaw girls found disgusting. He was tall, had broad shoulders, and huge muscles, but not so big that he couldn't move his arms. What made Baddock more dangerous than most Slytherins was that he was not only strong physically, he was a talented wizard too. Vidya Tummala was a tiny witch of Indian descent. Though she was small, this did not stop her from constantly taunting larger witches and wizards, especially the first and second year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Leo Pasts was more like a Gryffindor than any past Slytherin. He had a talent of exploring into the late hours of the night, and never backed down in the face of danger. He had light blue eyes and shaved his head bald, which made him look rather odd being short with broad shoulders. From far off, the height and baldness made many people mistake him as an old man. And then there was Dawn; the girl Dennis very likely loved.

Dennis ate no more than a single scoop of mashed potatoes and a treacle tart for desert. His embarrassment was enough for him to completely lose his appetite. Kevin, who had been dying to tell him to eat all through the dinner waited until Dumbledore got up and left before mentioning anything so that Dumbledore would not suspect that Dennis was anorexic.

"You'd better eat something," Kevin said finishing his third treacle tart, "you'll starve if you don't eat. You're going to want to have energy for tomorrow when we stop off in Paris before going to the countryside. You are going to do some shopping, right?"

"Dennis doesn't shop unless he believes that he will be seen by a celebrity," Tummala said laughing.

"It was by chance that Peter Briggs liked my hair," Dennis said, "and that time in Hogsmeade last year, it wasn't my fault that Harry and Viktor Krum happened to join my table at the Three Broomsticks. They just happened to see my broomstick and decided to…"

"We've all heard it Creevey," Baddock said, "but we don't believe it. Come to think of it, we all happen to know that that you and your brother have been known to stalk Potter. He was probably just telling you that he's gotten a restraining order against you."

"You want to challenge Dennis to a duel or something?" Lena asked Baddock. "Bring it on! We Gryffindors always beat you Slytherins."

"You'd like me to 'bring it on,'" Baddock said, "as long as you were part of the action, and we all know what kind of action you like to take part in." Baddock did a quick pelvic thrust.

"Why don't you sixth years ever shut up?" Dwight asked. He turned to Theresa and Stella and asked, "Were we that obnoxious last year?" Both girls shook their heads 'no.'

"I'm just commenting on Lena's little affairs with Michael Corner last year followed by that week long affair with Davies," Baddock said, "you liked that, didn't you Davies. Too bad it had to end so soon."

Lena grabbed her glass and splashed what was left of her pumpkin juice in Baddock's face. "You just wish you could get in on my action," she hissed and stormed into the next car where the bedrooms started. Baddock stormed off in the other direction to wash the pumpkin juice off his face and clothes.

As the crowd slowly disappeared into the other cars, the conversations in the dining car began to shrink into one. Finally, Dennis found himself talking to just Kevin, Leo, and Dawn.

"I'm getting rather tired," Dawn said looking at the dark sky outside. "I will see you all tomorrow. Oh, and Dennis," Dawn looked him in the eye and bent down so her face was not more than an inch from his, "if I ask you to pass the salt tomorrow, do you think you could get it to me?"

Too nervous to speak, Dennis nodded. Dawn rustled his hair and said, "Good boy."


	2. Big Cowy Things that Jump like Hares

Chapter 2- Big Cowy Things that Jump Like Hares

Disclaimer: I know I forgot to do this for the last chapter, but the Harry Potter plot, some characters, and the idea of a Triwizard Tournament all belong to J.K.Rowling and I am just adding some of my own characters to it with my own twist.

Also, the title is a Hemingway quote made by a female character in a short story

The story title is from the Four Season's song Dawn.

"Why has the train stopped?" asked Stella Kuo as she stepped out of her compartment. She had on a long blue cotton nightgown, and her black hair was tied on top of her head.

"We're scheduled to stop in Paris, Kuo," Malcolm Baddock growled as he walked by. Stella stepped back into her room to avoid coming too close to his greasy hair.

"Since when?" She persisted to find out how she was wrong. She couldn't remember the last time she had been.

"It's on the itinerary. And I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart." Baddock rolled his black eyes.

"He's actually right," Lena Grogan said as she walked by in her Muggle clothes. She had on a Peter Briggs tee shirt and faded jean shorts with rhinestones along the sides. Her brilliant red hair was pulled back into a messy bun on top of her head. She was counting her galleons in her purse as she walked. Stella followed close behind, still in her nightgown.

"Where do you think you're going?" Vidya Tummala asked eyeing Lena's outfit.

"Shopping," Lena replied. "The magic township is tiny, but there is wonderful shopping in Paris anyway. I'm getting jewelry for the Yule Ball here because I forgot to bring anything suitable."

All the guys tensed up. They had all forgotten about the Yule Ball and how they would have to ask a girl to it, especially if they became the Hogwarts Champion. Lena noticed Dennis Creevey looked especially nervous. Lena smiled deviously at him. Dennis had recently become very handsome and was now quite possibly the best looking boy at Hogwarts.

"Is anyone coming with me or am I going to have to go out on the streets of Paris all alone?" Lena reached for an apple at the far end of the table.

"Why are you wearing those then?" Vidya questioned, hoping that Lena would make a fool of herself.

"The Magic shops are mixed with the Muggle shops so we would have to dress like Muggles," Lena replied, smiling for knowing the answer so well.

"If you lend me some Muggle clothing I could join you," Dawn Parkinson said from a corner where she had been speaking with Baddock.

Lena eyed her suspiciously. "Suuure… just follow me to my room. I've got a totally Muggle tee shirt you could wear. Actually, it's tight on me, you can have it."

Lena led Parkinson to her sleeping compartment. After a minute of digging, she pulled out a blue shirt and a pair of jean flares to match. For some reason, Lena did not like Parkinson. She did not know why, but Parkinson seemed to carry an air of supremacy everywhere she went.

Lena was more than glad to see Dennis walk out of his own compartment as she and Parkinson left hers. Dennis had changed into baggy jeans and a white shirt with the Superman logo on it.

"You coming with us?" Lena asked.

"I figure you girls could use a protector," Dennis said looking Lena in the eye and smirking.

"I don't think that 'O' you worked so hard for in Defense Against the Dark Arts is going to be needed," Parkinson commented. She pulled a strand of silky hair behind her left ear.

"You two are going to be in a Muggle city," Dennis stumbled over his words. "Muggle boys can be awful to girls. As mean as wizards are to one another, Muggles are worse."

"That's so cute," Parkinson laughed, pinching his cheek, "he thinks he needs to protect us."

"I think it might be nice to have a guy's opinion with what jewelry to get," Lena said.

"I didn't think of that," Parkinson laughed. "I suppose you can come."

"Let's hurry up then," Lena said grabbing Dennis's wrist and pulling him toward the front of the cabin with Parkinson not far behind.

Just as they opened the door, they heard Kevin's voice calling, "Wait for me. I'm coming too." Kevin finally caught up and looked at the odd situation. Lena and Dennis were holding hands and Parkinson was smiling and wearing Muggle clothing following.

"Let's go already," Lena said, pulling Dennis out of the train and into the station. There were only a few other witches and wizards walking around; most looked rather scuzzy. Lena walked up to a station worker, still holding Dennis's hand, and asked, "How do we get to the Muggle district from here?"

The man cocked his head, then quickly explained in French that he did not know English. Parkinson, who had just caught up to them, repeated the question in French and listened carefully to the worker's response. "It's this way," she finally said and followed the directions the man had given her. At least Lena assumed she was.

"What direction did he say to go?" Lena asked after a few minutes of walking. She had finally let go of Dennis's hand, and he and Kevin walked behind the girls.

"Follow the yellow brick road," Parkinson replied. Lena, Dennis, and Kevin stopped. All having been raised in Muggle homes, they all knew the station worker had decided to screw with them. "What's wrong?" Parkinson asked as she looked back at them.

"Have you never seen nor read the Wizard of Oz?" Lena asked.

"Never heard of it," Parkinson replied.

"You are such a Hemingway female," Lena laughed cruelly.

"What does that mean?" Parkinson asked in a rough voice. Lena had insulted her, but Parkinson didn't know what the insult meant. Lena peered at Dennis and Kevin; she could tell from the looks on their faces, neither did they.

Before Lena could open her mouth to speak again, Kevin stepped between the two girls and said, "The important thing to do now is to find our way either back to the train or to the Muggle district. What do you say we do?"

"Shopping," Lena and Parkinson said at the same time. They glared at each other eye-to-eye for a moment, then smiled at one another.

"I guess it's settled," Dennis said. "Now, where do we go to find the shopping?"

"I'll ask a few people," Parkinson said running her fingers through her straight black hair.

"Make sure you tell us what they say before leading us to the Emerald City again," Lena said sarcastically.

After having asked a few more people how to get to the Muggle district, Dawn finally spoke to one man who told her exactly what they needed to do. From there, it only took one minute until they found themselves in the middle of Paris, only a kilometer away from the Eiffel Tower.

"I want to climb it," Kevin said staring up at the tower.

"You'd fall and break your neck," Parkinson laughed. "You can't even hang onto a broomstick."

"Ha ha," Kevin said in a nasal voice, "very funny. I fell off once during first year and you think I can't stay on ever."

"Come on already," Lena whined, "I want to go shopping." She began to walk forward again, but her foot hit a bump on the sidewalk and she fell down.

"Are you okay?" Dennis asked pulling her to her feet again.

"Just fine," Lena said. She looked at her knees, which were scuffed up. "I'll survive." She looked up into Dennis's eyes. She had never really paid attention to his eyes before. She was surprised to see they were a beautiful blue.

"You'd better be a little more careful," Kevin said. "You tend to bump into a lot of things when you walk."

"Thanks for the reminder," Lena said closing her eyes. She opened her eyes again and realized that Parkinson had begun walking and the two boys were following her. Lena jogged to catch up, and luckily only bumped into a few things.

"What did you mean by Hemingway female?" Kevin asked Lena an hour later while she looked at necklaces.

Lena turned to look at Dennis and Parkinson. Parkinson had a seductive smile drawing him in. "Either she is an idiot, or she's acting like one, just waiting to attack. You'd better watch out for him, or she's going to tear his heart out or, to be a true Hemingway female, blow a bullet through his head."

Kevin gulped and looked at Dennis and Parkinson. Dawn tried on a pair of sunglasses that promised to make the day look like night and looked at Dennis over the rim of them. Kevin nodded at Lena and walked toward the other two.

"Dennis," Kevin said interrupting the two. "Can you help me pick out something for my parents? I promised I would get them some stuff from France when I told them I was coming."

"Sure," Dennis replied. Kevin dragged Dennis away from Parkinson.

Lena smiled to herself and thought, 'That's just the beginning of what I have in store for her if she keeps flirting with him the way she has been. I bet she would describe antelope as the same way as Mrs. Macomber.' Lena grabbed a necklace and held it up to her neck. The green from the necklace brought out the color in her eyes, and with the evil smile that flashed across her face, made her look like a rich devil.


	3. Kevin Tries to Keep His Big Mouth Shut

Chapter 3: Kevin Tries to Keep his Big Mouth Shut

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**A/N: If you haven't noticed, different chapters follow different people. The first one was Dennis, then Lena, and this one is Kevin. However, I will not keep repeating everyone's full name_every _chapter, only if it is someone not introduced in a chapter that follows whoever it is following. For instance, everyone from Hogwarts has been introduced from Dennis's first chapter, so I won't be repeating everyone's full names unless we introduce new characters, which obviously I will have to because we are having two more schools enter the picture. However, from a Lena view, Leo Pasts hasn't come into the picture, so when he does, he will be Leo Pasts at first.**

**Also, every chapter following Dennis will be titled "Good Boy." All Lena chapters will be "Big Cowy Things that Jump like Hares." All Kevin chapters will be "Kevin Tries to Keep his Big Mouth Shut." There will be one chapter title for each character.**

Kevin Whitby sat starving, but he had to wait for a while still before he could eat. Lena Grogan had been right to suggest that he eat something while in Paris, but he didn't have enough money after Dawn Parkinson discovered she forgot to exchange some of her galleons for Muggle money; she had been surprised that the Muggle store clerk wouldn't take her gold coins so he and Dennis paid for her.

He sat in the train car; his stomach growled loudly. It was only five, they had another hour to travel, and then they still would have to wait until after the speeches before eating.

"What is that annoying noise?" Kevin's older sister, Theresa howled. She pulled two chunks of her blonde hair to either side of her head in aggravation.

"That would be your brother's stomach," Dwight Frost said. Dwight turned to Kevin and called out, "why didn't you eat anything this morning, mate? There was plenty of food for all."

"I had other things on my mind," Kevin replied running his hand through his hair. It had been hot in all the train cars except the dining car for most of the day and his hair, perfectly gelled that morning, drooped. Kevin realized that the dining car had become unbearably hot because almost everyone in the train had moved there. He stood up and made his way out toward his own sleeping compartment.

After 'fixing' his hair so that it came to a peak above his forehead, he looked at his clothes. He was wearing Muggle jeans that were a size or two too big. They were his older brother's, who had not acquired magic and was now living in America studying law at Princeton. His shirt was also from his brother, however not as a hand-me-down, but as a present from Princeton. Simple white tee shirt with the Princeton logo on it.

Just as he was about to walk out, he remembered that everyone in the dining car were wearing their Hogwarts robes because they would be arriving at Beauxbatons and needed to be in the proper wardrobe for the occasion. Kevin quickly pulled out a bundle of clothes, his only clean robes left. _'One disadvantage of the Wizarding world is that we don't have machines to wash our clothes,_' he thought to himself taking mental note to wash his robes later that night after the festivities.

He peeled off his shirt, which was sticking to his skin in the heat. Compared to his good friend, Dennis Creevey, Kevin couldn't think of himself as anything but a shrimp. Dennis had gone to the gym everyday during the summer, and it had paid off for him. But Kevin had gone once, and decided it was not worth the trip.

It didn't take much for Kevin to take off his pants. He unbuttoned them and they slid off his legs. His legs were also scrawny. There was no other way to describe them. He hated the way he looked like a hairless monkey. He knew that if Vidya Tummala or Malcolm Baddock could see him at that moment, they would break out laughing and probably call him a hairless monkey or some other names that he didn't even want to think about.

Once Kevin had his Hogwarts robes on again, just before he left his room, he heard the most peculiar noise in the compartment next to him. The compartment was Dennis's, so Kevin decided he needed to know what was happening. Dennis had had a hard summer, and Kevin was using all his power to help Dennis feel better.

Kevin walked down the hall a little and, before knocking, leaned close to the door to listen to any conversation that might be going on inside. He heard a giggle, Lena Grogan's giggle to be exact. Kevin thought about it, and last he had seen both of them was when Dennis walked out of the dining car and Lena followed to constantly ruffle his hair.

With a breath to steady himself, Kevin brought up his fist to knock on the door, but milliseconds before his hand could hit the wood, conversation started again. Kevin stopped himself so he could listen to the conversation. This didn't make any sense to Kevin, he wasn't the type of guy to spy on his friends, but he felt that if they knew he was there, they wouldn't tell him what was going on.

"Why do you keep doing this to me, Lena?" Dennis asked.

"I'm sure you could figure it out if you put your mind to it," Lena replied. Kevin couldn't tell if her voice was just low, or if she talked in the _sexy_ voice she used to get Curran Davies to date her the year before.

"We, or should I say I tried this fourth year, remember?" Dennis said, but Kevin had to strain to hear this.

"I know," Kevin could tell from the tone of her voice she was making a puppy face. She continued, "But…"

Kevin couldn't hear again, which really annoyed him. Then he had an idea. He skidded back into his sleeping compartment and began digging through his trunk. Finally, he pulled out a bag from his before school year shopping. The bag was labeled "Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes." Kevin pulled out what looked like a chunk of skin and an eyeball. The 'skin' was of course an Extendable Ear and the eyeball was one of the newer inventions of the Weasley twins, the Extendable Eye. Kevin reckoned that he wouldn't need the Extendable Nose for this little escapade of his, and was sure that if there was anything to smell, he didn't want to smell it.

He climbed onto his bed and pushed the ear and eye into the vent and through to the vent into Dennis's room. Lena had changed since he had last seen her. She was now wearing a green sundress, which Kevin hoped she had put on before entering Dennis's room. Dennis was wearing the same pants, but now his shirt was in a bundle on the floor at the foot of his bed. Lena danced and sang in a flirty manner while Dennis just sat, smiled and watched at her perfectly shaped body.

Lena finally stopped singing and jumped on Dennis. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "I promise to be nicer if you give me a second chance."

"Why do you suddenly want this?" Dennis asked. His smile had disappeared

"Do you not think you are worthy of my perfectness?" Lena asked.

"Lena," Dennis said pushing her away from him slightly, "I think you're jealous."

"Of who?" Lena asked and seemed insulted, though Kevin suspected it was the truth.

"I'm betting Kevin told you more of the reason I went with you to Paris than to protect you," Dennis said, which surprised Kevin. Kevin had promised to never tell a soul about Dennis's secret crush. Kevin had once or twice let slip a secret of Dennis's, well, ten to be accurate, but still, he had promised on sacrifice of his blood if he broke this promise.

"Oh yeah," Lena said sounding bored, "he told me everything. I'm really surprised with you, after the incidents of the summer. Didn't…"

"Do you think I want to hear that Lena?" Dennis snapped.

Lena looked taken aback. Kevin was taken aback for a moment before he remembered that Dennis did not know that he could hear and see everything that was going on.

"I'm sorry, it's just that, since then you've been different," Lena said. "You don't laugh when I trip, which is a good thing. Then again, you don't laugh ever anymore. Not when the Blast-Ended Skrewts hit Aggie's Basic Blaze package of Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-Bangs and the fireworks almost took off Filch's head. It's like you're an empty shell when it comes to happiness."

"Yeah, I know," Dennis said sitting and Kevin could tell it was taking all Dennis had to not cry. "You wouldn't be Ms. Sunshine if your brother was killed in front of your eyes."

Lena scooted closer to Dennis and put an arm around him. "I'm sorry I mentioned it," Lena said. "What your brother did was noble. It allowed Harry the chance to defeat the Dark Lord." Lena closed her eyes slowly, but then they shot open. "You were there? What were you doing _there_? You could have been killed."

"Please leave Lena," Dennis said as calmly as he could. She slowly stood, but after a few seconds, Dennis stood and pushed her out the door.

Kevin retracted the eye and ear and placed them back in their bag. He was bubbling over with anger at Lena. It wasn't his fault that she found out about Dennis's crush on Dawn Parkinson. He would somehow have to get Dennis to realize this without telling Dennis that he had been spying on him.

Kevin returned to the dining car, surprised that they were coming up on Beauxbatons and would be arriving in five minutes or less. He sat down next to his sister.

"Why are you so jumpy?" Theresa asked.

"No reason," Kevin said too stiffly. Now she was sure to push it out of him.

"Come on," Theresa said, "I can tell you're hiding a secret. What's it about?"

"I'm not telling you," Kevin snapped.

"I'm not the blabber-mouth," Theresa shouted.

"Mr. and Miss Whitby," Professor Dumbledore's voice rose above their racket. Everyone looked on. "I hope we will not have a problem while at Beauxbatons. We wouldn't want to spoil the Hogwarts name."

"He has a secret," Theresa said, "and if he doesn't tell someone now, he's bound to tell some random French student, and then they will all think something horrible about us."

"That is not true," Kevin said. "I can keep a secret."

"Yeah," Malcolm Baddock snickered, "if you're the last to find out."

Kevin fumed. "I'm going to find Dennis."

"I'm sure he'll fulfill your needs," Baddock said in a voice implying that there Dennis and Kevin were 'partners' as Baddock would say. "He'll fulfill your every desire."

"Mr. Baddock," Dumbledore began, but by the time he continued, Kevin could no longer hear anyone from the dining car. He passed Lena as he went to find Dennis.

"Why do you like him?" Kevin couldn't help himself from asking. The question had been plaguing him all day.

"Who?" Lena asked.

"Who do you think?" Kevin said fairly loudly. "You were all over Dennis… how are you?"

Dennis had walked out just as Kevin said his name. From the look on his face, Kevin could tell he had not heard Lena and himself talking.

Dennis looked at Lena, who, to Kevin, still looked absolutely beautiful even though she was in her Hogwarts robes now. Kevin made himself look at a spot straight ahead as he waited for Dennis to answer.

"Crummy," Dennis replied. "Ask Lena if you want to know why." And with that Dennis left Kevin alone with Lena in the hall. Lena winked at Kevin and followed Dennis into the dining car.


	4. Good Boy: Beauxbatons

Chapter 4- Good Boy: Beauxbatons

Dennis was third in line after Dumbledore. He watched Stella's heels move forward and finally down the steps and into the grass of the Beauxbatons field.

The field shone even though the sun had set. Slowly, Dennis looked up at the Beauxbatons school. Up to that moment, Dennis had believed the only building that could make his eyes light up with excitement and curiosity was the Hogwarts castle, but as he surveyed Beauxbatons, he could hardly breathe.

Beauxbatons Palace was made of white marble bricks at least one hundred stories high. Supporting the roof every ten feet were golden pillars reflecting the moonlight for miles around. The students, who all bore resemblance to super models and movie stars, were lined up along the rails of the hundreds of balconies; each student was wearing brilliant silver and gold silk robes.

A garden containing the most beautiful collection of flowers caught the eyes of all the girls surrounding Dennis. These flowers spread the length of the whole front of the palace and ended with giant rose bushes. The red roses in the bushes had been enchanted to spell out "Welcome Hogwarts Students" to the left of the palace and "Welcome Durmstrang Students" to the right.

Once all the Hogwarts students had left the train, all the Beauxbatons students waved and called out in unison, "Bonjour 'Ogwarts and Dumblydore."

The front doors, made of granite and engraved with gold saying "Beauxbatons" slowly opened to reveal the largest woman Dennis had ever seen. Even after five years and growing over a foot and a half, Madam Maxime still seemed like a giant to Dennis, though he knew she was only half-giant.

"Ah, Madame Maxime," Dumbledore said as he reached his old friend. He kissed her hand and bowed to her as she curtseyed back. "An honor to see you again."

"It 'az been too long," Madam Maxime smiled. She looked at the cane. "Can it not be cured?"

"The curse Voldemort placed upon me grows worse as the last of his followers are being captured," Dumbledore replied. "It is a truth I must face; I will never see the true end to Voldemort."

Madam Maxime looked somber for a moment, but quickly looked delighted upon seeing the Hogwarts students. "Pleaze, come inzide and warm yourzelvez up."

Dennis fell to the end of the pack as they followed one of the perfect second year students through the grand doors and into the dining room. The walls of the dining room was on giant painting, moving of course as all magical paintings and photographs do, of a field and a herd of feeding unicorn. There was one giant circular table that had a small opening directly across from the doors so students and teachers could freely choose to sit on the inside or outside of the circle. Many of the throne-like chairs already had robes laying on them to reserve seats.

Dennis followed Dawn around to an area where there were five open chairs all in a row, and two across from the five. While Baddock sat on the opposite side of Dawn, Dennis didn't care. He sat next to her and she smiled sweetly at him. Kevin sat across from them and Lena next to Kevin. '_Great,'_ Dennis thought, '_this is just what I need. Kevin to spill my every secret and Lena to undress me again. And all in front of Dawn._'

"Feeling better yet?" Kevin asked Dennis.

"No," Dennis said without letting himself think of any emotions that had gone through his head earlier in his sleeping compartment. _'At least Kevin hadn't seen that, otherwise I'm sure Theresa would know by now.'_

As much as he fought with his head, his mind landed on what had occurred that afternoon in his compartment.

_He had escaped from Lena's constant ruffling of his hair, and the whole train watching on. He decided to change into his Hogwarts robes then so he wouldn't have to later. After he pulled everything out of his trunk, the door flung open and Lena stood in the doorway. Her hair was down and blew slightly from the breeze that came through Dennis's open window. She had changed into a short green sundress. Dennis had immediately thought she was a goddess and his heart jumped back to fourth year when he would have done anything for her, but he quickly gained his senses._

"What are you up to?" Lena asked and she closed the door behind her. She ruffled his hair again and looked at the Hogwarts robes on his trunk cover. "Changing are you? Let me help you."

Before Dennis could comprehend everything that was going on, Lena had gotten on her tiptoes and pulled him into a long, hard, powerful kiss. When she pulled away, Dennis remained still with a confused, yet happy look on his face. She giggled a little at his reaction. He sat on the bed, and she had taken that as an invitation to kiss him again. This time, Dennis caught her before she could kiss him. He looked her in the eye and asked, "Why do you keep doing this to me, Lena?"

Lena smiled and lowered her voice to sound very sexy, "I'm sure you could figure it out if you put your mind to it."

"We, or should I say I, tried this fourth year, remember?" Dennis said looking away from her because it was hard to tell her that when she was so beautiful.

She turned his face to her again and made a puppy face. "I know, but…" She leaned in again and he kissed her. Before Dennis could think again, he felt her hands sliding up his stomach under his shirt. She pulled it off him and threw it in a bundle on the floor. Now she climbed on top of him, pushing his back to the mattress. Before she could do anything else, Dennis held out his hand and said, "No, Lena. We can't do this."

Dennis pulled himself away from this memory at the sound of Madam Maxime's voice. "I am glad to welcome to our school ze studentz of Hogwartz and Durmstrang. Onze again, we will be oozing ze Goblet of Fire to chooze ze school championz. Ziz year, Profezor Dumblydore, Profezor Baron, and myzelf will be making sure zere are no curzez on it firzt. Ze namez will be chozen tomorrow evening after ze feazt. But for now, pleaze eat."

Like at Hogwarts, the food magically appeared on the tables, however, brightly colored lights that reminded Dennis of fireworks shot out first, and left the food warm on the table. A few of the foods were from England, but the majority of the food was French. Dennis had never had any experience with French cuisine, and had no idea what he would and wouldn't like.

Dennis looked around the table and saw all the seats filled, mostly with beautiful Beauxbatons students or teachers, but a few had some dark looking characters. These dark characters all had dark fur coats on the backs of their chairs and almost all had broad shoulders that looked even broader because they all sat hunched over. Dennis assumed these were the Durmstrang students, and already they scared him.

One of the broad-shouldered boys looked in Dennis' direction, sneered his upper lip, and cracked his knuckles. Dennis lost his appetite after that. The mere thought that he might have to compete against someone so large made Dennis shiver.

"Are you okay, Dennis?" Lena asked looking up from her completely French cuisine. "You don't look too good."

"I'm fine," Dennis stated without looking at Lena.

"Might I lead you to ze infirmary?" a Beauxbatons girl in the seat next to Dennis asked.

Dennis looked at the girl. Her curly brown hair was streaked black and red. Her complexion was a pale a person had to work for by not acknowledging the existence of the outdoors or the sun. She was wearing black lipstick, thick black eyeliner, and black buckle boots under her silk robes, which were frayed.

Dennis glanced back at the broad shouldered boy, who ripped a leg off the turkey and threw the whole thing, including the bone, into his mouth and began to chew. Dennis felt the blood drain from his face.

"That would be nice," Dennis said and he scooted his chair away from the table. He followed her into the hall before she began to talk again.

"I'm Gage," the girl said and she threw her head back and let out a bark-like laugh. "What a joke zat name iz. My parentz 'ad juzt moved to Franz and wanted me to 'ave a French name. Zey named me after ze firzt nurze at ze hospital. Mugglez, what a wazte of time."

"I'm Muggle-born," Dennis said.

"Don't get me wrong," Gage said, "I 'ave nozing againzt Muggle-born witchez and wizardz, or againzt Mugglez eizer. I am Muggle-born for crying-out-loud. I'm juzt aggravated weeth my ridiculouz Muggle parentz. Zey dezided to move back to America after I got azepted to ze boarding school for perfect little angelz and zey won't let me tranzfer. I 'ate it. Zo, 'oo are you?"

"My name is Dennis…"

"Nize to meet you Denniz," Gage interrupted. Dennis began to realize immediately, this girl liked the sound of her own voice. "Now, zat iz a name worth 'aving. And I bet all your ziblingz 'ave nize, normal namez too. Your name doezn't look ztupid on ze 'eadlinez of ze newzpaperz. Well, zen again, ze namez of witchez and wizardz in England are uzually quite a beet deefferent from what I would call normal. Zo, tell be about theze ziblingz of yourz."

"My only brother died this summer," Dennis said hoping it would make her shut up, but in vain.

"Really?" Gage asked. "What a pity zat iz. Why in ze world would you ztart to talk about your brozer with a normal name if 'e 'ad juzt died? At leazt 'iz name doez not look ztupid on ze headztone, zough. Can you imagine what people will zink when zey look at my headztone when I die and zee ze name 'Gage La Monnoye?' zey will zink it was a joke."

'They'll probably be thanking God too much for shutting her up to think of her name at all,' Dennis thought as he began to block out Gage's voice. Until he heard her say, "You never did get around to telling me your lazt name."

"Creevey," Dennis said simply. He figured he wouldn't get any further than that to even bother to try.

"Iz zat Engleesh?" Gage asked, "Or it does zound a little Ireesh. 'Owever, Creevey iz ztill better zan La Monnoye, which iz my lazt name. If I 'ad a lazt name like Creevey… iz zat Creevey az in Colin Creevey?"

"It is," Dennis said. "That was my brother."

"I am zo zorry," Gage said and pointed up. They had arrived to the infirmary, after what seemed like an hour to Dennis. Now that she wasn't talking, and no broad-shouldered Durmstrang students were sneering at him, he found his appetite had returned and he regretted not having anything.

**Please Review. I could really use your input.**


	5. The Psychological Complexities of Dawn

Chapter 4- The Psychological Complexities of Dawn

Everything Belongs to J.K Rowling, not me.

From Dawn Parkinson's position at the enormous Beauxbatons table, she could see almost everyone's face. Those she couldn't see were all Beauxbatons students, so she therefore assumed that they looked the exact same as all the other strangers around her, happy and beautiful. Of course, this was the exact opposite of what she usually was surrounded by. On any normal occasion, she had people like Malcolm Baddock or her sister, Pansy and her friends around.

Pansy's friends had caused Dawn a lot of trouble during the summer. Pansy, her boyfriend, Draco Malfoy, and his two cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, were all Death Eaters. One night, they had decided to take Dawn on a raid of a Muggle populated area. During this particular raid, the Dark Lord himself had joined them.

Half way through the raid, the Order of the Phoenix appeared to stop them. Dawn, realizing the danger, quickly climbed the nearest tree and watched the battle. She was amazed at how experienced even the youngest members of the Order were, but the Death Eaters continued to hold their ground. She had not known why they were raiding that area until one of the front doors of the nearby houses opened and Colin Creevey came out. During his last year at Hogwarts, he had proved to be one of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts students, aside from Harry Potter the year before, for almost a half century and she knew the Dark Lord had plans to kill him and anyone else who tried to protect him.

Colin, who had a rather odd body, being tall and very skinny, did not look like a threat. He was still known to goof off, and to treat Harry like a God. In fact, Colin had only just graduated that June from Hogwarts and probably did not know his N.E.W.T. scores yet.

Dawn noticed Colin turn for a second in the doorway and say something, but she could neither see the other person nor hear what Colin yelled. Colin closed the door and jumped into the battle.

Dawn could no longer tell what Death Eaters were fighting whom. The hoods and masks made everything very difficult. The one duel she could see was Harry Potter and the Dark Lord. This seemed it could go on forever; it had already been going on for quite a few hours. Finally, a great turn of events arrived in the form of a red stun beam, which hit the Dark Lord in the chest. This had come from Colin, looking quite ridiculous standing all bruised and apparently about to collapse under his weight.

"My Lord," Dawn immediately recognized this voice as her sister's. Pansy pulled off her mask and did the unthinkable; she pointed her wand at Colin, whose back was turned to her, and yelled "Avada Kadavra!"

Colin fell; so did the Dark Lord. Harry had had just enough time with the distraction to shoot the Killing Curse at him.

Fear filled the heads of the Death Eaters. All of them Disapparated, leaving Dawn in a tree. She stayed there for hours, until after all the clean up and after all the Order had left. Dumbledore, weakened from a fight years earlier, had come to inform Colin's family of what happened, and all the bodies, five others had died in the fight were taken away.

Dawn had been in the tree for a total of 12 hours when she finally let herself down. She pulled off the mask she had been wearing and dropped it on the ground. She had never wanted to go on the raid, but Pansy, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had insisted she see the final battle of the war. She saw it, and she was on the losing side.

Dawn had never been near a death before that. She did not know how sheltered her life had been until then. She checked to make sure no one was looking, and she held her wand in the air for a moment. Within seconds, the purple Knight Bus pulled up to the curb and she climbed in.

"Hello?" Dawn called entering her house after the bus finally dropped her off. "Is anyone home?"

"Dawny," Pansy cried running down the stairs. She had changed into her nightclothes as if she hadn't even realized that Dawn had not come home until that moment, which was probably exactly what happened.

"Thank you for leaving me in a tree," Dawn said as she saw Malfoy poke his head out of Pansy's bedroom door.

"I don't remember ever telling you to go into a tree," Pansy said.

"I figured I might like to stay out of the fight once the Order arrived," Dawn said, "did you think I should fight? I would have gotten killed."

"It would have been an honorable death," Malfoy said coming out of the room wearing only boxers. "No one would have marked you as a chicken for hiding in a tree."

"Maybe I don't want to die yet," Dawn yelled. "Maybe I don't want to be evil either. Maybe I'm fine not on any side."

"You don't mean that, Dawn," Pansy cried. "It's just the shock of the loss."

"It isn't," Dawn yelled, "and you killed a wizard who had his back turned to you. Do you call that honorable? You'll be sent to Azkaban for that for life. Everyone saw it was you."

"Dawn, that's quite enough," Pansy whimpered.

"No, it's not enough," Dawn said, her voice a little louder and higher than before. Dawn was about to cry. "You're a murderer now, Pansy. And all in the name of a dead man, or, no, he's not even a man…"

"Shut up," Malfoy yelled. "Stupefy!"

Dawn screamed as the red beam flew out of his wand and hit her. She didn't remember anything between getting hit and waking up a few days later in her bed. Pansy was sitting in the corner of the room writing a parchment and hushing the owl on her shoulder.

"Take that to Draco," Pansy said rolling up the parchment and tying it to the owl's leg.

"I hope that's a letter to tell him not to come around here anymore," Dawn said.

"Of course not, Sweetie," Pansy said, hardly realizing that Dawn was just waking up. "Why would I tell him not to come round anymore?"

"He stunned me," Dawn yelled.

"You did say some cruel things Dawn," Pansy replied.

"What I said was true," Dawn yelled. "It wasn't any of those bloody lies the Dark Lord was feeding you."

"Dawn," Pansy yelled, but the door slowly opened and a rather squat house elf walked in with a tray of breakfast for Dawn.

"Get out of here you bloody elf," Pansy yelled, "we're not finished talking."

"Yes we are," Dawn said, "and I want my breakfast, Squanders. Bring it here."

"Dawn, I'm your older sister."

"And I haven't eaten in a while," Dawn said. "I'm hungry. Get out of my room."

"You don't ever eat," Pansy yelled. "Look at you."

"Just because the fat genes run through some of the family doesn't mean I got them," Dawn said.

Pansy screamed for a moment and threw a vase of flowers across the room so it crashed against the wall. She then stomped out of the room.

"Don't just stand there," Dawn yelled at the scared looking house elf, "clean it up. That's what we keep you for."

Dawn, who hadn't eaten anything in a few days, finished eating before the house elf was ready to take the tray away. To spare having to watch Squanders clean, Dawn left the room, then the house all together. She walked down the block to the house of a fellow Slytherin, Leo Pasts.

Leo had just shaved his head, and Dawn could hardly catch herself and keep from laughing when Leo opened the door. Now, more than ever before, he would not fit in with the other Slytherins who he so loved to torment and laugh at.

"Where did your hair go?" Dawn asked before any sort of greeting.

"Long didn't suit me," Leo replied. "I chopped it off, but the little I had left didn't suit me either, so I got a razor and shaved it off in the sink. Me mum wasn't too happy about that either."

"Has there been any news lately?" Dawn asked. "I've been incapacitated the last few days and I have finally realized that I live a horribly sheltered life."

"There was the downfall of the Dark Lord," Leo said. "So nothing big."

Dawn smiled. It was so like him to pretend that the downfall of the strongest dark wizard of all time was something that could just be waved off and ignored.

"Are you going to be trying to get into the Triwizard Tournament?" Leo asked. "I hear it's at Beauxbatons, which is in France. You can finally connect with your…"

"My bastard of a father?" Dawn asked. "No way. He left me to live with my mother and her husband, no reason for me to seek him out, even if I happen to be in France."

"You learned French so you could seek him out and call on him," Leo reminded her.

"That was before certain events of the last few days," Dawn said. "I don't need to know him to know I'm not truly loved by anyone I'm related to."

"Your family adores you," Leo was shocked she said such a thing. "Everyone in the world adores you, including your sister and mum. If you need me to prove it, I can."

"No thank you," Dawn said, afraid of what he would do. "Just let me believe what I want for once, okay?"

"What ever you want, Princess," Leo said as he stood up from the ground he had been sitting on. He smiled down on her, and Dawn knew that he would somehow prove to her that her family would jump in front of a rampaging dragon to protect her…

They just wouldn't climb a tree and help her down.

**Please Review. I could really use your input.**


	6. Good Boy: Annoying Voices

Chapter 6- Good Boy: Annoying Voices

"When was the last time you ate?" Kevin asked Dennis as they ate breakfast the next morning.

"Day 'fore yes'day," Dennis replied through a mouth-full of the table's contents. The rest of the Hogwarts students looked on in horror, afraid that if they reached for food, Dennis might mistake their hand for a type of food he hadn't tried yet that morning and take a bite out of it.

"I am rather glad that we decided to dine together this morning," Dumbledore said watching as Dennis took more food off the plates. "I cannot express how embarrassed I would be if you acted like this last night."

"He didn't eat anything last night," Baddock announced. "He felt a little queasy because a few of the Durmstrang guys are bigger than he is."

"You didn't look too good last night when that Durmstrang guy sat next to Dawn and growled at you," Lena reminded him. She hadn't gotten to the table on time to beat Dennis to the food, and had yet to be able to touch a bite. She finally slapped Dennis's hand as it reached for a piece of toast. "You'll make yourself sick if you keep eating like that," she said grabbing the toast. "Plus, there is going to be a huge feast tonight, so save a little room for then."

Dennis looked at her as if she was evil. The rest of the table looked at her as if she was crazy. She could have just lost a hand, but she had been a lucky one. Dennis finished the bit of food on his plate and stood up. Kevin stood up too.

"I'm going to go change now," Dennis said. He had been the only one not to change into his Hogwarts robes before breakfast. "I think I can manage on my own." Dennis looked at Kevin to sit down, so Kevin did.

Dennis couldn't help but think that Kevin had been acting strange lately. It wasn't like Kevin to worry about Dennis, they were just friends. Was Kevin trying to take over as Dennis's brother now that Colin had been killed?

"No," Dennis said out loud to himself. But Dennis couldn't help but wonder. Kevin had fetched Dennis the night before when everyone else went out to the train for the night. Usually, it would have been more like Kevin to send his owl, which he had brought on the trip, to the infirmary with a message around one in the morning.

Dennis ran a quick comb through his hair and returned to the dining car where everyone was waiting for him so they could make their way to the castle again. As they all stepped onto the morning grass, still wet with dew, the girls all squealed at how much prettier the palace looked with the morning sun shining down on it. Dennis heard what sounded suspiciously like, "Girls, what a waste of space!" from where Tummala was standing behind him.

"Do you all have your slips with your name on it?" Dumbledore asked before they could walk to far from the train. Everyone nodded that they did. Dennis was amazed he remembered his. "Good." Dumbledore smiled.

"If he gets chosen to represent Hogworts I'm asking Professor Baron if I can transfer to Durmstrang," Baddock's voice rang through Dennis's ears. Dennis knew that Baddock had referred to him, but he didn't care. If he did anything to counter, Dawn would never think of him as anything more than a Mudblood.

"I see we're cheery this morning," Theresa appeared at Dennis's side. Dennis miserably failed in an attempt to smile; Theresa laughed.

"No offense or anything," Dennis began, "but you don't talk to me. The last time you did, you were looking for Kevin to yell at him."

"I know," Theresa smiled. She took a step closer to him. "I know your secret. Kevin broke down last night and spilled everything." Dennis was too shocked to speak. "You know that you're not supposed to have a girl in your compartment. If Dumbledore found out, I doubt anything would happen, but McGonagall would blow her lid. You and Lena would both be serving detention for weeks."

"How did Kevin know about that?" Dennis was baffled.

"I just assumed you told him," Theresa said, confused herself. "You didn't tell him?"

"Why would I?" Dennis asked. Theresa shrugged and quickened her pace to catch up to Frost.

"Kevin!" Dennis stopped walking and yelled.

"Well," Tummala laughed. "The Mud…" she caught Dumbledore's eye and changed her words, "Creevey sounds like he's calling for a House Elf. No wonder the Whitby boy is so tiny." Laughter erupted from Baddock and Tummala. Dawn smirked. The rest of the pure bloods stifled their laughs.

"Oh, keep your trap shut," Kevin growled, which only made everyone want to laugh more. No matter what tone of voice Kevin used, he still wasn't intimidating. He retreated next to Dennis. "You wanted to talk about something?"

"Who said anything about talking?" Baddock howled with laughter once again.

"Could you please tone your conversations down?" Dumbledore warned as they approached the open doors of Beauxbatons Palace. "Please be ready to place your slip of paper into the Goblet of Fire."

"How did you know about Lena and me?" Dennis asked.

"Uh… errr… um… well… I heard you two talking through the vents as I changed," Kevin said. Dennis could tell Kevin had just made that up.

"What did you see?" Dennis asked a trick question.

"Well… just… I didn't see anything," Kevin tried to cover the mistake of his first two words.

"Kevin…" Dennis was getting irritated.

"Okay," Kevin whispered. "I used an Extendable Ear and Eye. I only saw her dancing and everything after that until you kicked her out. By the way, I did not tell Lena what she told you I told her." Kevin yelled the last sentence to get Lena's attention. He also managed to get the attention of the all the Durmstrang students and half the Beauxbatons students and teachers.

Lena flipped her hair and spun around. Dennis noticed her hips swing as she walked toward the two of them. She twirled a strand of her beautiful red hair on her finger and asked, "Did you have something to say to me Kevin?"

Dennis noticed that Lena's gray pleated skirt was shorter than any of the other girl's skirts and her blouse was a size too small. Kevin was goggling at her and couldn't think of anything to say.

"Come on and let's put our names in the Goblet of Fire," Dennis said turning Lena around and followed her to catch up to the rest of the group. Her hair swished back and forward as she walked and Dennis's eyes followed the ends to settle on watching her hips again.

"I zee zat you are better ziz morning zan you were lazt evening," Gage's voice was right behind Dennis.

"Yeah," Dennis replied, "I'm all healthy."

"Zat iz good," Gage said, "becauze I do not know what I would do if I didn't have a chanze to beat you in the Triwizard Tournament. I will zee you at ze winnerz zircle." Gage took a step in front of Dennis and Kevin and dropped a slip of paper into the white-blue flames of the Goblet.

"She is seventeen?" Kevin asked. Dennis shrugged. "She looks about fifteen."

"You look fourteen," Dennis reminded Kevin.

"But I have acne," Kevin said pointing to his face. "I noticed she didn't. And look at that make-up she wears. How is it that girls are so lucky that they don't get any acne."

"That is not true," Stella said. Dennis looked at her and didn't see any signs of acne.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kevin whined. "Have you looked in the mirror? Your face is as clean as can be."

"I was just saying that a lot of girls have acne," Stella said.

"Like Marietta Edgecomb?" Dennis laughed. "I recall that was because of a jinx Hermione Granger put on a paper she signed."

"I was thinking of Moaning Myrtle."

"She's a ghost," Kevin said. Dennis didn't have the slightest clue who Moaning Myrtle was, but at the mention of a ghost, figured she must be the one that haunted one of the girls bathrooms. "Ghosts don't count."

"She had acne when she was alive," Stella retorted.

"And your point is?" Kevin asked.

"The point is that not all girls have clear skin," Dennis said. Stella nodded in agreement.

"What do you even care, Kuo?" Kevin asked. "We were just talking about how that girl looks younger than seventeen, and how my looking young is compensated by the fact that I have acne."

"I once had acne," Stella said walking out the giant granite doors. "And I was thirteen. Just because someone has acne doesn't make them a certain age." She began walking at a quicker pace.

"Why do you always have to prove me wrong?" Kevin yelled walking alongside Stella. Dennis had slowed down; he didn't want to listen to them bicker again. He had spent most of the first day on the train listening to them argue. Stella had won every argument.

"Something wrong?" Dennis's body froze at the chilling female's voice.

"Uhh…" Dennis couldn't form words in his head, not to mention actually say anything intelligent.

"Dennis, don't worry," Lena's voice was on his other side. He could be calm around Lena, even though she was a beautiful vixen, but when it came to Dawn, he didn't know what to do. Lena continued, "she doesn't bite… too hard." The two girls giggled and continued their walk back to the Hogwarts Express.

"Smooth moves there Creevey," Baddock yelled, "you'll really sweep them off their feet like that." He passed by Dennis and caught up to the two girls. He put an arm around both of them and continued to walk with them.

Annoyed with his classmates, Dennis went on a walk. They didn't need to be anywhere until the Halloween Feast that night. He found a lake and rounded to the far bank. He watched as a herd of large Durmstrang gorilla-like boys exited a boat in the water and began to make their way toward the front of the palace.

"It seems to me that you are having second thoughts about coming here," Dumbledore's voice rang in Dennis's ears. It was first time that morning that someone talked to him and his eye didn't tick in annoyance, aside from Dawn's voice in his ear.

"I just think I grew up too fast," Dennis said. He ran his hands through his hair. "I don't eat regularly anymore, as I guess you can tell. And almost everyone annoys me, except for, well, let's just say that I'm not too smooth when it comes to talking to any girl, especially a certain girl on the train."

"You had a difficult summer Mr. Creevey, but I believe that Miss Parkinson had a difficult summer too," Dumbledore said. "If you need someone to talk to, I believe her compartment is directly across the hall from your friend Mr. Whitby. Make sure you knock first."

"But, Professor," Dennis began. "I thought we weren't allowed to go into a compartment of someone of the opposite gender."

"I do believe that was Professor McGonagall's rule," Dumbledore chuckled. "If you won't tell her I gave you permission, I won't tell her you went in."

Dennis smiled. "Thanks Professor." Now all he needed to do was work up the courage to talk to her.


	7. Looking into the Crystal Ball

Chapter 7- Looking into the Crystal Ball

Stella Kuo watched as strands of her stick-straight black hair fell out from behind her ears and onto her face. She knew it was a waste of her time to come to Beauxbatons Academy for the Triwizard Tournament. She had known for months that she wasn't going to be the Champion for Hogwarts, just as she had known that there would be four Champions at the previous one. This was because Stella was a Seer, and not a crackpot like their garish teacher Trelawney. When Stella had a dream, she knew it had a meaning. When she looked into a Crystal Ball, she saw the future. She had learned to read the stars from Firenze the centaur. Unlike most of the other girls, who continued to take Divination to have him as their teacher, Stella respected him for his talents. In her opinion, having the body of a horse was a turn-off.

But Stella came because everyone expected her to come. And as the half-giantess, Madam Maxine, talked about the purpose of the Tournament, Stella occupied herself with her hair. As more hair fell, she saw less and less people. Just as everyone turned to watch the Goblet spit out its first name, the only Durmstrang student Stella could see was the largest one.

"Brutuz Maximuz," Madam Maxime read the name aloud and the boy Stella could see smiled and accepted applause from the three schools.

More of her hair fell, and she could only see one Beauxbatons student. It was that girl with the brown hair and the buckle black boots.

"Gage La Monnoye," Madam Maxime read the second name and the applause erupted again, though it was considerably less due to the fact that the Beauxbatons students clearly did not want this girl to win.

Stella watched as the rest of her view was obstructed. Aside from her and her overweight friend, Theresa Whitby, all the other Hogwarts students sat in a large group. Her hair quickly fell and she could only see one boy.

"No way," Stella said brushing her hair out of her face.

"What is it?" Theresa asked, ready in case her name was called.

"Dennis is going to be the Hogwarts Champion," Stella said quietly.

"No way," Theresa reciprocated.

The Goblet spit out its final name and the flames died. Madam Maxime read aloud, "Denniz Creevey."

"Damn you and your Seer skills," Theresa sighed. "Will I ever be 60 kilograms or less?" Theresa often asked Stella random questions about her flaws hoping to know she would be better in the future.

"If I say yes, you'll not do anything to work for it so it won't happen," Stella was always prepared to give an indirect answer to these questions, "and if I say no, you won't do anything because you won't think it will happen. If you want to be less than 60 kilograms then work out and eat healthier."

"If you say so Richard Simmons," Theresa growled and put the piece of candy she had just picked up back down.

"Who's that?" Stella asked, licking fudge off her fingers. Stella was pureblood and did not mind admitting she didn't know something about Muggles here or there. But if someone accused her of being wrong, she would begin a fight to prove herself correct.

"Never mind," Theresa sighed. "Of all the people, it had to be Dennis. The boy shouldn't have even come here. You heard what happened this summer, right? And from what I heard from Kevin, Dennis witnessed the whole fight."

"Yeah, and…?" Stella had seen this in a dream the night before it had happened. She had not interpreted the dream entirely until it was too late.

"What don't you know?" Theresa asked, annoyed that Stella was still shoving more candy in her mouth and didn't have to worry about gaining too much weight.

"Who Richard Simmons is," Stella reminded Theresa. Theresa held back a laugh.

"Well, I'm not telling you," Theresa raised her eyebrows threateningly. "At least there is something I know that you don't."

"That's fine," Stella said. "By the way, steer clear of your brother tonight, he's going to target your hair with a wad of gum."

Theresa's face began to boil red in anger. "The little squirt had better not. If he does, it will be his last day on Earth."

The feast slowly drew to a close, and finally everyone stood up and left the dining hall. Stella and Theresa walked slowly, waiting for the rest of the Hogwarts students to catch up to them.

"How are my two favorite seventh year females doing?" Leo Pasts was hardly as tall as Stella, not to mention several inches shorter than Theresa was. He walked between them and placed an arm around each of their shoulders.

"What do you want, Pasts?" Theresa asked. She lifted his arm off her and allowed it to drop back to Pasts side.

Pasts rubbed his bald head with his freed hand and gave a nervous laugh. He looked up at Theresa and then turned to Stella. She couldn't help but melt in his light blue eyes. If there was one boy who she would consider dating, it would be Leo. However, dating was not on Stella's agenda any where in the near future.

"I need to ask you a question, Stella," Pasts said quietly. He waited a moment, the turned to Theresa, "Privately would be preferred."

Theresa rolled her eyes and walked to the group of the other Hogwarts students.

"You wanted to know something?" Stella asked hesitantly.

"So, I was thinking about having a party, but Dumbledore would have to be away for an extended period of time, say, ten hours."

"And…" Stella was afraid what Pasts wanted her to do almost.

"Any possibility you could use those Seer powers to find out when he will be gone for that long?"

"It doesn't work like that and you know it," Stella protested. She looked at Pasts smiling face, his round cheeks, his shining eyes. "I'll tell you if I See anything."

"Thank you," Pasts said and retreated back to the rest of the Hogwarts students.

Stella rolled her eyes in annoyance at herself. She knew very well that only Ravenclaws would ever help Slytherins to break rules, and now she was just adding herself to the list of the Ravenclaws that had.

There was a scream behind her as she reached the door of the train. "Kevin, you bastard. I'm going to kill you, stop running away, wuss. Do you know how long it takes to get gum out of hair?" When would Theresa learn?


	8. Psych Complexities of Dawn: Lake Kiss

Chapter 8- The Psychological Complexities of Dawn: The Lake Kiss

"I would die if Peter Briggs sang at the Yule Ball," Lena Grogan laughed. Dawn couldn't help but hang out with Grogan now that her options of hanging out with Purebloods were very limited, and the other three girls were not what Dawn wanted for company. Stella Kuo freaked her out somewhat, always knowing what was going to happen in the next few minutes, and Theresa Whitby hadn't spoken a nice word to her since Dawn had been in third year and asked Whitby not to sit on her from fear of being crushed. Most would have assumed that she would spend all her time with Vidya Tummala, but Tummala was oblivious to the fact that no one liked her.

So, much to Baddock's dismay, Dawn was spending a lot of time with a Mudblood. Baddock did enjoy the attention he was receiving. Since he was almost always at Dawn's side, the majority of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students now believed that he was some sort of 'God's Gift to Woman.' What other possible explanation would there be to the fact that two beautiful witches were hanging out with a greasy-haired jerk than if had a… Dawn stopped her mind, not even wanting to think about what was in Baddock's pants.

"I don't think I know any of his songs," Dawn said to Grogan's comment. The two girls were walking around the Beauxbaton's Lake after their lessons with Dumbledore were finished Tuesday afternoon.

"None?" Grogan's usually almond eyes widened. "I saw him in concert this summer. And I knew all his songs except his new release, Unbreakable Vows of Heartbreak. It's his best hit yet. Did you know he used to be in Slytherin when he went to Hogwarts?"

"I didn't know he even went to Hogwarts."

"He graduated the year before we started," Grogan stated.

The two girls had left their cloaks in their compartments and were carrying their shoes and socks, but were still suffering from heat. Grogan dropped her shoes and socks and pulled a ribbon out of her pocket to tie up her long red hair.

Dawn dropped her shoes and socks too. She looked out at the lake and the floating Durmstrang boat. The water was crystal clear and as smooth as glass. Just standing on the shore, Dawn felt slight relief from the heat. But she was still sweating. A crazy idea came to mind as Dawn watched what appeared to be a dolphin surface momentarily.

She backed away from the lake a few paces, and then she ran at it and leaped into the water. Immediate relief washed over her. She dove under the water and surfaced a few meters out. On the shore, Grogan stood, contemplating whether or not she would join Dawn.

Dawn swam out a few more meters and heard a splash as Grogan jumped into the cool water. Grogan resurfaced next to Dawn.

"With us two in the lake," Grogan began speaking, "it's amazing than none of the Durmstrang boys have jumped off the deck of the boat yet."

"If we got one or two of the Beauxbatons girls to join us it would only be seconds before those boys did come," Dawn reciprocated. Both girls laughed.

Half an hour later, the girls finally began to make their way back to shore. They had already discovered a colony of Merpeople, and swam through a colorful reef, barely avoiding a shark attack.

Kevin Whitby and Dennis Creevey had just approached their abandoned shoes and socks. Dawn saw a glint in Grogan's eyes that looked suspiciously familiar; she had seen that same glint in many Slytherin students' eyes before. Grogan was up to something.

"Which one are you sweet on?" Dawn asked.

Grogan looked at her and laughed. "What makes you think I like one?"

"You spend plenty of time with them," Dawn said, "and it's common knowledge that Creevey and you had a fling fourth year. I was just thinking that maybe there were still some remnants of it left over."

"There might be some truth in that," Grogan replied. She looked at the boys again who were talking on the shore. The girls remained in the water. "Dennis gets a little dazed when he gets kissed; at least when I kiss him he does."

"Really?" Dawn asked, "And Whitby?"

"As if!" Grogan cried. "Like I would kiss him. And it's not like he even likes me. He's got a thing for girls with black hair."

Dawn lifted her eyebrow and looked at her own black hair. She pointed at herself to ask Grogan silently if she meant her.

"Either you or Kuo," Grogan replied. "He does seem to like to argue with her, but then again, I think he pulled Dennis away from you in jealousy in Paris when you were flirting with him."

"I was not flirting," Dawn stated. Grogan gave her a disbelieving look, so Dawn began to make her way out of the water. Grogan followed.

"Hey boys," Grogan chimed. "Any way we could help you?"

"I see you two found a way to cool off," Creevey said. He wasn't wearing shoes or socks, his shirt was not tucked in, and the top few buttons were unbuttoned. Dawn could not believe how much more mature he looked than his brother had a little more than a month ago.

"Water any good?" Whitby asked. He was in full uniform, except for his cloak and his tie was undone. His blonde hair was matted to his head and his whole face looked damp with sweat.

"It's okay," Grogan said. "How about you test it out."

A smile crossed Creevey's lips. "I think I will. Care to join me girls?"

Dawn smiled. She had just gotten out of the water, but already the heat was getting to her again. Grogan was already diving back in the water. Creevey pulled his shirt off and followed her. Dawn waded in a little before she dove in and resurfaced near the two Muggle-borns.

"Come on in Kevin," Grogan yelled, "nothing's going to eat you."

"Except maybe that shark we saw," Dawn laughed. Whitby, who had just pulled off a shoe, turned green and claimed he was fine in the shade of a large tree.

Dawn heard a splash, and saw Grogan throwing water at Creevey. Creevey dove under the water and resurfaced in between the two girls. Grogan looked rather happy, happier than Dawn could remember her looking in a long time. Grogan slowly swam to Creevey, talking all the while about how proud she was of him for making Hogwarts' Champion. When she was only inches away from Creevey, her smile grew even wider, and Grogan congratulated Creevey by pulling him into a passionate kiss.

Dawn found Creevey's face hilarious as he contemplated being kissed by the beautiful redhead. On shore, Whitby was staring at the lake surface in astonishment. Grogan simply swam to shore before blowing another kiss to Creevey; she then began to make her way back to the train.

"You would really make a cute couple now that you are taller than her," Dawn said to the still astonished Creevey.

He turned to her, his face flushing. "I… uh… did not see that coming," Creevey said.

"You seemed to enjoy it," Dawn replied.

"On some levels, maybe," Creevey said. He bit his lip, and Dawn immediately knew what he meant. He had liked the kiss; he wished it had been from a different girl. "I think I'll go back to shore now."

Dawn watched as the boy swam back to the shore and grabbed his shirt. Rejoined by his friend, the boys began to walk back to the Hogwarts' Express. She swam to shore, and looked back at the boys to see Creevey turn to gaze at her for a moment. She had denied what Baddock had told her days ago, but maybe Creevey did fancy her. Dawn thought about Grogan for a moment, and came to a realization that had she been Pureblood, or even Half-Blood, there was not doubt that the Sorting Hat would have put her in Slytherin.


	9. Et Tu Brute

Chapter 9- Et Tu Brute

Brutus Maximus had never been thought of as a nice, charming, good-looking, gentleman. He was too large to be thought of that way. He also had a temper problem, and what his Muggle father called Bi-Polar Disorder. But in reality, Brutus was a nice, charming, good-looking (for a Neanderthal), gentleman. And today, he was on a Manic high.

He was eating a small portion of all the different foods on the table. However, there were about 20 different plates, and not nearly enough room on his circular plate for each food type. His wand was polished and in his pocket, ready to be weighed.

His twelve-inch, conifer, vampire fang wand was one of the best there was for casting Hexes. And because of his temper, it had come in handy many times on the trip already.

Brutus rushed through his food, and ran back to his room on the boat. He wanted to look semi-decent in case there were photographers. He ran a comb through his wavy brown hair and scrubbed his olive skin clean. He smiled to a set of crooked yellow teeth. He heart dropped. How could he smile with those hideous monsters in his mouth? He'd tried everything, from brushing three times a day to whitening spells, but every time he managed to get his teeth white, they turned yellow by the next month.

He stared at his image in the mirror for several minutes. If he didn't smile, he looked sad… he was sad. A depression had just come upon Brutus. Even his small brown eyes looked sad. There was a knock at his door.

"Enter," Brutus grunted.

"Brutus, my boy," Professor Baron walked in. Baron had long black hair and a pointed goatee on his double chin. The man was no more than four feet, six inches, yet he somehow looked powerful. The man frightened Brutus like no one could. Brutus always saw a knife in Baron's beady black eyes. "Ready for the Veighing of the Vands?" Brutus nodded in fear of any other answer. "Good."

Brutus walked off the boat and saw a pleasant surprise. The first night he had been at the palace, he had met and seen some beautiful, but bratty Hogwarts girls. But one had caught his eye, not because of her pale skin or luscious blond hair, but because of her temper. It was even shorter than his was.

The brats he had met laughed at the pain and misery of others, but the blond was the one suffering the torment. He had seen tears in her beautiful blue eyes that first night as she left the dining hall, a tall black boy giving her words of comfort. He knew one thing about that boy; he had a girlfriend at Hogwarts that the boy had promised to be true to.

"'Ello Brutuz," Gage La Monnoye piped up. Her silk robes were seemingly cut at the knees, exposing the rest of her black leather buckle boots. Her curly brown hair seemed to have more black streaks in it since the night the Goblet had chosen the names of the champions. He also noticed she had a dramatic amount of black eyeliner and lipstick on. Even her short nails were painted black that day. She held in her hand a battered nine-inch wand made of what looked like wood from an olive tree. She was twirling it like a baton.

Dennis Creevey was standing by a table, talking with an interviewer. After a moment, the interviewer, a tall man with purple hair, stood up and shook Creevey's hand. He approached Brutus.

"Good day, Brutuz, correct?" The man asked. He pulled a fresh piece of parchment out of his orange Wizarding robes. "I am Gaston Sinclair. I write for ze_ Prophète Quotidien_. Would you mind anzering a few queztionz?"

Brutus took a deep breath as he sat down in a chair at another table. Gaston Sinclair could write in the paper that Brutus was a pig, or that he cheated his way into the tournament, and Brutus would never know. He didn't speak a word of French.

"What was your initial reaction when you found out you were ze Durmstrang Champion?"

"I vas happy," Brutus replied. He then added to sound more original, "I've vanted to do something great my whole life."

"Do you 'ave a zpecialty type of spell?"

"Yes, hexes!" Brutus immediately regretted what he said. He was sounding like the model Durmstrang student already. "Vell, at least that is vhat my vand is best for. I am also good at transformations."

"Really? Zat'z good. Tell me, iz zere a zpecial girl you will think of while competing?"

"I do not haf a girlfriend," Brutus said. "But I haf laid my eyes upon a beautiful blond that I vould like to get to know."

"Zat iz zweet. Tell me about your family."

"I am an only child," Brutus replied. "I haf a Muggle father that is a doctor and my mother is a herbologist."

Sinclair asked Brutus several more questions concerning his home life and experience with magic. After which several photographs were taken of the champions and the judges. Finally, a young witch took each of the Champion's wands and examined and tested it. All three worked perfectly, though the girl was not happy about the condition that Gage's wand was in, having made it herself.

"Zat waz exciting," Gage laughed. "Your wand 'az a vampire fang in it? Zat zoundz awezome."

"They are very hard to come across," Brutus replied. "They make powerful vands. I did not even know they made vands vith Pegasus ving feathers."

"Only Madame Parfait uzez zem," Gage said. "And Denniz, your wand iz made with dragon zcales? 'Ow 'eroic you muzt be."

"Not really," Dennis said. Brutus noticed that Dennis looked annoyed. He himself was finding Gage annoying.

"Do not lie," Gage laughed. "Vous êtes héroïque superbe!"

"Speak English Gage," Brutus said. "It is the only language ve all speak."

"You think you zpeak it," Gage laughed, "but zere iz no 've' in Engleesh."

"It is just an accent," Brutus growled loudly. "And you speak it vrong too."

Dennis turned out the granite doors and waved leaving Gage and Brutus to argue in the front hall. Gage, determined to prove Brutus wrong began trying to speak without an accent. Brutus couldn't stand her voice.

"Just shut up!" Brutus boomed.

Gage stood stock-still. She was too afraid to even tremble, but her eyes had shot wide open and showed deep fear. After a moment, Brutus walked out the door and began to make his way back to the Durmstrang ship. Professor Baron would want to hear all about the other's wands.

"Vell?" Professor Baron and the other Durmstrang boys sat at a table near the entrance into the boat. "Vhat kind of vands do they haf?"

"Gage has a nine-inch, olive tree vand vith a Pegasus feather and Dennis has an eleven-inch, oak vand vith dragon scales," Brutus reported. "Und Gage is annoying."

"Vhat are ve supposed to do about that?" Professor Baron asked. "Nothing. Now, go practice or read up on more magic!"

"Yes Sir," Brutus said. He walked down to the lower deck where there was a large arena for practicing magic and defense.


	10. Mudbloods! Mudbloods Everywhere!

Chapter 10- Mudbloods! Mudbloods Everywhere!

"Baldy, wake up and open your door this minute!" Malcolm Baddock woke up Saturday morning in a bad mood. Friday night, he had seen Dawn Parkinson, the girl he was supposed to protect from any Mudbloods, gazing at the Muddy Hogwarts' Champion. Pansy Parkinson had ordered him, weeks ago, to keep Dawn from any Mudbloods, but he was currently failing his job miserably.

Now, it was Saturday morning, and he couldn't track down Dawn in any of her usual places. She wasn't in the bathroom, her room; he'd even checked the rooms of two Mudbloods, and still he couldn't find her. The last place he could think of was the room of her good friend Leo Pasts, the Slytherin who only got in because he was afraid to face his family if he was placed in Gryffindor.

The door slowly inched open and the tired face of Leo Pasts appeared. It had been a few days since he had last shaved his head, and brown fuzz was beginning to appear. "Wha' d'ja wan'?" Pasts asked still not fully awake. "Is Sat'day."

"Where is Dawn?" Malcolm asked thrusting the door open the rest of the way, causing it to hit Pasts's face.

"Not in here Baddock," Pasts replied holding a hand to his head where the door hit him.

Malcolm surveyed the room and believed Pasts. This presented a new problem. He didn't know where else to look for Dawn. Moment's later her heard a beautiful voice floating in the hall. He turned around to see Dawn walk out of the room of the weird Asian girl from Ravenclaw, Stella Kuo.

"Dawn, m'dear," Malcolm placed an arm around Dawn's delicate shoulders.

"May I help you with something?" Dawn asked. She was headed toward the Dining Car.

"I was just looking for you," Malcolm said. "I need to keep track of you for your family. They would not be happy with me if you got into trouble."

"And by trouble you mean spending time with Muggle-Borns," Dawn knew him too well.

"Yes, exactly," Malcolm said. "I wouldn't want them to taint you. You have a name to keep up."

"As you can see, I was with Kuo," Dawn said. "She was helping me interpret a dream."

"And, what was this dream about?" Malcolm asked. "And the meaning?"

"If you must know," Dawn said rolling her eyes. Her evil smirk appeared; a smirk that meant she wasn't about to tell Malcolm the truth. A smirk that drove Slytherins mad with desire. "I dreamt about your naked body. Can I see if you really have a six-pack?" Dawn asked laughing.

"Nope," Malcolm said. "It's flat, but not any type of pack."

"Why isn't there any food?" Dawn asked.

"It's not even seven-thirty in the morning yet," Malcolm said.

"We have to eat in the palace from now on," Kuo said entering the Dining Car. Her black hair brushed her shoulders and she was wearing blue robes. She gazed at Malcolm's hair in disgust and walked onto the grounds.

"Maybe they'll serve pumpkin crepes," Dawn said. "I've heard they were really good. Want to go eat?"

"I'll go with you," Malcolm said, "but I don't think I'll eat." Malcolm opened the door for Dawn. He looked into her indigo eyes as she passed. He had never seen a Slytherin aside from her with eyes that smiled out of simple joys, like the thought of a steaming breakfast."

"Dipwads, wait for me," the high-pitched voice of Vidya Tummala rang over the grounds as the tiny Indian witch ran to catch up to her fellow Slytherins. Malcolm found Tummala funny at times, but was not the most exciting person to spend time with unless there was a Mudblood to make fun of.

"So what was your dream really about?" Malcolm asked to cover the silence that had appeared when Tummala finally had caught up with them.

"I was a fox," Dawn said. "And had to choose between rushing into a forest fire to warn my family to get them to safety, a journey that would have killed me probably, and following this other beautiful fox that promised to keep me safe and love me. I knew that if I went for my family, the other fox would recall his offer, and I didn't want that."

"And what did you end up choosing?" Malcolm asked.

"I didn't," Dawn said, "I didn't get that far." Dawn took a deep breath and Malcolm wondered if she was telling everything about the dream.

"What did Kuo say it meant?" Malcolm asked after a few seconds of silence.

"She said that I have a choice, either in my subconscious or in the near future that I will have to make on my own," Dawn said. "Probably between the old and the new. I think it might be between accepting my mom and sister as family, or my dad. I've decided to write him before next Saturday."

"That's an idea," Malcolm said hesitantly. Pansy had warmed him that she might try that and that he should stop her if she tried. "Are you sure it's the best idea? What if he turns out to be a disappointment? Wouldn't you rather have an image of him being a great man than learn he's not?"

"Pumpkin crepes," Dawn smiled ignoring his last comment. She took a seat next to a Beauxbaton's girl near the opening in the table. Malcolm took the seat next to her, leaving Tummala no where to sit. He looked at Dawn and knew she had only told him a partial truth. She was hiding part of her dream from him, and he was determined to find out what it was.

A few minutes later, he saw Kuo, sitting on the inside of the table near the opening, look up at the door. Her eyes stared at the door, and then turned to look at Dawn quickly, before she went back to her food. Malcolm turned his head to see the Mudblood, Dennis Creevey, walk in talking with their Headmaster. The two Beauxbatons students sitting across from Dawn and Malcolm had moved only a minute ago, so Dumbledore lead the Mudblood to those seats.

"Good morning Mr. Baddock, Miss Parkinson," Dumbledore smiled. "Good sleep, I trust?"

"Fine," Malcolm said through gritted teeth. Dawn nodded; her cheeks flushing like he had never seen before. Was it possible that she fancied the Mudblood?

"I had the craziest dream," Dumbledore laughed. "I was a much younger man, back before I was Headmaster. And I was climbing a mountain with my friend Nicholas Flamel. Well, we got to the top, and there was this house that was giving off the most delicious aroma. So we entered to find a party of Goblins and Werewolves, even though it was the middle of the day. Instead attacking us, the pulled us in and gave us a warm welcoming…"

Malcolm stopped listening and stole a glance at Dawn. She had stopped eating and was staring across the table at Creevey. The Mudblood was staring back.

"And in the end, it turned out to be Fang, Hagrid's dog."

"Wow," Dawn said, snapping back to reality. "That really is a crazy dream."

"Have any dreams lately?" Dumbledore asked Malcolm and Dawn. Apparently he had already heard whether or not Creevey had.

"I did, in fact," Dawn said. "You see, I was this fox, and I had to choose between running into a forest fire to save my family and following this other beautiful fox to safety. For some reason, I knew that if I tried to save my family, I would die, and if I followed the other fox, I would be loved."

Dumbledore's smiled curiously while Creevey looked at her unable to believe her. "That is an interesting dream." Dumbledore said. "And what did you choose?"

"I didn't," Dawn said. "I woke up."

"What would you choose if you were put back into your dream?" Dumbledore persisted.

"I don't know," Dawn blushed. "Probably the other fox. There was something about it that made me trust and believe it."

Malcolm flushed with anger. He coughed quietly and stood up. Dawn looked up at him and he stared back.

"I'm rather full," Dawn looked at Dumbledore and Creevey. "And I promised to spend the day with Malcolm for quality time that we haven't had since weeks before this trip. It was nice to speak with you Professor. Good day."

Malcolm led Dawn out of the hall, ready to interrogate her about her answer.


	11. Kev Keeps Trap Shut Away from Lena Death

Chapter 11- Kevin Tries to Keep his Big Mouth Shut: Away from Death by Lena

Disclaimer: All characters from Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and the songs are I Swear by All-4-One and The Sign by Ace of Base.

Kevin was much more comfortable walking around the Beauxbatons Palace by mid-November. On the twentieth, he and Dennis were heading for the Dining Hall, when they heard a soft voice singing from down a hall to their right. In no hurry to get to dinner, the two boys decided to explore.

"Did I ever tell you about Dawn's dream last week?" Dennis asked Kevin for what had to be the fiftieth time that week.

"Yes, you had the same dream, only from different views," Kevin rolled his eyes. He then remembered he had told his sister about the coincidence earlier that morning after she interrogated him about why Dennis knew one of Dawn's dreams. "Uh… Dennis… I kind of… is that Lena?"

The two boys had stopped outside of what they assumed was a classroom because it was the source of the music. They peered in through the window to see a beautiful figure with flowing red hair dancing. Indeed, it was Lena, only without her three inch heels and not being soaked thoroughly in a thin white shirt, she didn't look quite as intimidating as she had every other time Kevin had seen her so far that year. Her shoes and cloak were sitting on a desk near the door and she danced barefoot on the tile floor.

She sang a song that was familiar to Kevin and he realized he had heard it on the radio while on his way to Kings Cross Station while his sister sang along. He knew very few Muggle songs, but this one he had heard many times. Theresa had worshipped it the past few summers, excluding the last.

"_I swear, by the moon and the stars in the sky, I'll be there._

_And I swear, like the shadow that's by your side, I'll be there._

_For better or worse, till death do us part,_

I'll love you with every beat of my heart.

_And I swear."_

Kevin and Dennis watched, entranced. Lena danced with perfect grace, and sang like a Muse. After she finished singing, she slowly stopped dancing. Kevin grew worried, not that she would find them, but that she would stop and not pick it up again. Almost as if he willed her to, she began humming again and danced, slightly faster than a moment ago.

"_Shock!_

_I got a new life  
You would hardly recognize me  
I'm so glad  
How can a person like me care for you  
Why do I bother  
When you're not the one for me  
Is enough enough  
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes  
I saw the sign."_

As she continued, she glanced at the door and immediately stopped. Her eyes widened; no one was supposed to see her performance. Kevin looked at Dennis, who had backed away from the window at the end of the last song and was waiting for Kevin to finish.

"Run!" Kevin shrieked in an oddly high voice for him even.

Dennis jumped up and the two boys sprinted down the hall in the opposite direction than they had come from. After three minutes straight of running, Dennis stopped and looked behind them. No one was following.

"Where are we?" Kevin asked between deep breaths.

"Away from 'Death by Lena,'" Dennis replied already breathing normally.

"Do you know our way back?" Kevin asked.

"Not a clue," Dennis said. He looked out a window and saw the lake. "We're on the East Side of the castle, so we need to head west. Let's start heading back and if we get lost…"

"Which we will."

"We'll use a pointing spell to send us west," Dennis finished. "Or, as long as we can find our way back to the first level, we could jump out a window and walk around the outside of the palace to the front door again."

"Then let's find a staircase."

The boys set out to navigate the palace, which turned out to be no easy task. They tried to ask many portraits, but none spoke English, and the two boys didn't speak French. After twenty minutes of wandering the halls, the boys finally found a staircase and found themselves on the first level of the palace.

"Let's just jump out this window," Dennis said. "I can see the lake from here, so we're only on the side of the castle." Dennis pried the window open and climbed out. Dennis looked around as Kevin made his way out the window. It slammed shut as soon as Kevin's feet were on the ground. Dennis jumped at the sound.

"Why are you so nervous?" Kevin asked as he began to walk toward the front of the castle.

"What are you doing?" Dennis whispered.

"Going toward where there will be food," Kevin said.

"You will be food if you keep moving," Dennis said. He was looking out at the field as if there was a herd of hungry beasts grazing the grass.

"What are you talking about?" Kevin asked.

"The Thestrals," Dennis whispered. "Don't you… no, you wouldn't."

"Thestrals as in the invisible horse things?" Kevin asked. Dennis nodded. "Are they ugly?" Dennis nodded. "Are they coming toward us?" Dennis nodded once again.

"Don't move Kevin," Dennis said. Slowly, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at an angle in the air. A large steak appeared in the air and fell fifty meters away from them. After a moment Dennis sighed and began running. "They're distracted, let's move."

"What are those doing here?" Kevin asked once they were walking through the granite doors of the palace, a second time.

"They could be for the first task," Dennis said. "I'm sure they don't randomly keep those on the grounds. Also, the first task measures daring, and it would be fairly daring to mess with a Thestral, especially a whole herd of them."

"What about Maximus and Gage?" Kevin asked. He stopped walking and continued, "can they see Thestrals?"

"I don't know," Dennis replied. He walked past Kevin. "I never thought to ask."


	12. Good Boy: The First Task

Chapter 12- Good Boy: The First Task

Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Rowling

"How are you feeling?" Lena asked sitting next to Dennis the morning of the twenty-fourth.

Dennis glanced at Lena through the corner of his eye. She had to be kidding… right? He felt as if he was going to explode. Lena cocked her head innocently and smiled.

"I feel like eating would lead to embarrassment," Dennis finally replied.

"That good?" Lena joked. Was that a genuine smile? "I'll be cheering for you. Make Hogwarts proud."

It was time for Dennis to go and he still hadn't had a bite to eat. He figured it was for the better; puking during the first task was not the way to impress the judges.

He, the annoying girl Gage, and Brutus Maximus (a poor excuse for scientists to believe that Neanderthals existed in select groups of society still) arrived at a large tent on the side of the school. Inside, they met with one of the French judges, a professional Quidditch coach (no one from the French Ministry would judge because of what happened to English Ministry officials that judged the last tournament) greeted them. He was a German exile by the name of Hintz who spoke perfect English with no accent what-so-ever, in Dennis's opinion at least.

"Good afternoon Champions," Hintz smiled. "Before we begin, I must know, can any or all of you see Threstrals?"

"I can zee zem," Gage smiled as if it was something to be proud of.

"Me too," Dennis said raising his hand in the air.

"Brutus?" Hintz asked. It was clearly apparent from the first meeting with Hintz that he wanted Maximus to win. Maximus shook his head to indicate 'no.'

"That is too bad," Hintz smiled as if he was relieved. "You will be selecting first then." Hintz held out a sack with moving objects inside. Maximus reached in and selected what seemed to be a miniature Hippogriff. Hintz held the bag out to Gage next, who selected what was clearly the Threstral. This left an unknown creature for Dennis. Dennis reached in and pulled out a unicorn.

"In this challenge, you will be tested for your daring," Hintz explained. "Each of you will be released into a herd of the animal you selected and will have to approach one of the young. One young animal in each group will have a map tied to it. You get the map as fast as you can… without summoning it, and without hurting any of the animals. You will be judged on how fast you get the map and how well you work with the animals, and of course how much bravery you show."

Dennis was going to be second. He and Maximus sat in complete silence as Gage followed Hintz out the tent. They listened to the crowd shouting. After a minute, the event began and every few seconds, the crowd would gasp all together, and then sigh a moment later.

"What is she like?" Maximus was looking at Dennis.

"Gage?" Dennis asked. Maximus shook his head.

"The blonde," Maximus said. "The one who yells at your friend a lot."

"Theresa?" Dennis asked. "She's, well, I don't know her too well. She and Kevin are brother and sister. I do know she has a short temper and is always claiming she needs to lose weight."

"Theresa is just perfect," Maximus had a dreamy look on his face.

The crowd outside erupted into a huge applause. The lady from the infirmary escorted a beaten up Gage back in; Gage was holding a map. Dennis was called out to perform next. He gripped his wand and walked out, his mind still wondering what Maximus saw in Theresa. He didn't even know the girl, so it wasn't her personality. And it probably wasn't her looks because there were at least a hundred girls at any one moment while Theresa was visible to him that were better looking. Maybe Maximus was attracted to girls with short tempers, or perhaps the Neanderthal gene in him made her look like… Dennis was shaken from his thoughts as he realized a horn attached to a unicorn was charging at him. He only had a second to dodge.

With his Theresa thoughts on hold, Dennis held his wand ready in case another unicorn decided to attack him. He scanned the herd for the foal. They were on the opposite side of the arena. Dennis did the first rational idea that came to mind. The shortest path was straight through, so if he ran fast enough, maybe he could get the map before any of the adult unicorns could attack him.

He was about ten meters away from the foal when a horn and an angry looking unicorn mare cut him off. He heard trampling on both sides of him. A unicorn was charging at him from both sides, and he was fairly sure one was coming from behind to.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Dennis froze the unicorn in front of him. "Petrificus Totalus!" The one on his right, then the one on his left. He turned around to see the fourth about to hit him, and if not him, the first unicorn he froze. "Stupefy!" The unicorn fell stunned just before reaching Dennis. The foal moved to a different side of the arena, leaving more adult unicorn between him and the map.

The unicorn Dennis had stunned was most likely the largest unicorn in the herd. Dennis restored it to consciousness, but began to stroke it gently. The unicorn distrusted him at first, but after a moment, after the unicorn had managed to stand again, it allowed Dennis to continue to pet it.

"Will you let me ride you is the question," Dennis said to unicorn, or rather himself. He took a deep breath and pulled himself on. The unicorn didn't struggle. Dennis found it amazing that the unicorn let him on its back. He steered it toward the foal, and it began to canter.

After a moment, the other adult unicorn cleared a path for the unicorn Dennis was on and it led Dennis right to the foal with the map tied to its back. Dennis stepped down and untied the map from the foal without disturbance. A loud bell rang, and professional unicorn handlers made their way onto the field to herd the unicorn back into their field outside the arena.

Dennis was ushered back into the tent by the nurse while the hippogriffs were being released into the arena for Maximus. Dennis had managed to escape without a scrape on him, which had to call for high points. He listened to his scores. Eight, eight, eight, nine, seven. That was forty out of fifty. What had Gage gotten? He couldn't remember.

"You did great," Gage said as Dennis sat down. "I waz peeking out of ze tent. Better zan me, I theenk. I do not know 'ow I beat you. Would you like to watch Brutuz?"

"Sure," Dennis said. He stood next to Gage and they opened the tent flaps enough to see the whole arena. Gage had a few cuts on her, one that seemed to be turning blue, or was there blue medicine on her arm? "What happened against the Threstrals? I didn't watch."

"One bit me," Gage looked at her blue cut. "I guez it got a infected, zo ze nurze put blue pazte on it."

The crowd cheered and both Dennis and Gage looked back out to see that Maximus had already gotten the map. The two backed away as the nurse led him back into the tent. Maximus scored forty-eight out of fifty, which put Dennis in last place.


	13. Cowy Hares: The Winner in Her Book

Chapter 13- Big Cowy Things that Jump Like Hares: The Winner in Her Book

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belong to J.K. Rowling… my hero.

Lena screwed up her face as the crowd began to file out of the arena once the scores of the brute from Durmstrang were announced. She had no idea how it was possible that Dennis had scored last. For Heaven's sake, Lena couldn't see the Threstrals, but she could tell that they had gotten the chick from Beauxbatons fairly well. And the brute had his whole chest slashed. Sure, Dennis had taken the longest, but he hadn't gotten hurt and didn't hurt any of the unicorns. She remembered the year before when a unicorn tried to take a girl's head off in Care of Magical Creatures, and that was one unicorn that wasn't protecting its young.

She wasn't in a rush to get out of the arena. There wouldn't be a big celebration on the Hogwarts Express, though a riot was a possibility. The arena was slowly emptying out, with the exception of Lena and male a few rows in front on Lena with messy, jet-black hair. He was wearing a set of red wizarding robes with golden trimmings. Lena dismissed him as a washed up wizard that had possibly been a Gryffindor many years back, and was desperate to relive his schooling days. Lena remembered she was wearing her own Gryffindor robes, though she was proud to say they were getting tight across the chest.

She finally stood as the exit cleared of all spectators. She glanced down at the man and saw he was wearing glasses with circular frames and had a scar across his forehead hidden mostly by his hair. She was a few more steps down when she stopped. She spun around to see the man stand up.

"Merlin's mercy," she stammered. "What are you doing here Harry?"

"Do I know you?" the man asked. Lena recognized his voice. It was Harry Potter, not that she had ever actually talked to him. "Well, I suppose I must have seen you once or twice," Harry continued seeing her Gryffindor robes. "But I don't think I know you."

"I'm Lena," she said holding her hand out for him to shake. "Lena Grogan. But who am I to tell you what to call me? Refer to my by what ever name you'd like."

"Nice to meet you Lena," Harry said. "I'm guessing you know Dennis, considering you're both Gryffindors. I'm heading to the Hogwarts Express now to give him my congratulations on an excellent task. Would you like to accompany me?"

Lena smiled and nodded. She couldn't bring herself to say anything so she dumbly smiled and followed him out of the stadium. Harry turned to her halfway to the train and began asking questions about her. She gave one-word answers, she couldn't get more than a word out without breaking into a hysterical laughing. In fact, she was like to break into laughter with the one word answers as well.

Lena walked onto the Hogwarts Express first. Just as she predicted, everyone was yelling in disappointment about Dennis's loss. She ignored them, but they weren't ignoring her. She was smiling a very odd smile for her. After a second, when Harry appeared, everyone went quiet.

"Hey Dennis," Harry said, walking across the room. The two boys shook hands, and then Dennis smiled out of surprise.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Harry," Dennis said. "It's an honor though."

"Hermione told me you had made Hogwarts Champion," Harry said, "so I thought I would come here can congratulate you myself. That was an excellent display of daring and magic against the Unicorns. You were the only one who didn't hurt any of the animals you fought. You probably deserved more points than that, but it might have helped if you used more advanced magic."

"Who are you to tell him how to compete?" Tummala asked.

Even Baddock rolled his eyes at her ignorance. Or possibly, was she standing up for Dennis in some sort of distorted way?

Kuo laughed after a second.

"You tell him," Kuo said through a fit of giggles. "Tell Harry Potter. He wouldn't know a thing about bravery."

Tummala turned slightly red, as much as an Indian witch could at least. She sat down and disappeared in the commotion.

After a few minutes, Dumbledore appeared and smiled at the sight of his favorite pupil. Lena still hadn't managed to say a word since before stepping onto the train. Parkinson had made her way across the room and stood next to Lena.

"You seem a little quiet," Parkinson said. "Cat got your tongue? Or is it Potter?"

"Harry's the winner in my book," Lena said. "I still remember him in the tournament our first year. What I wouldn't give for _him_ to notice me."

"He's all yours," Parkinson said. "I don't need a hero to protect me."

Lena smiled and the two girls laughed slightly before making their way across the room to talk to Harry.


	14. Atop his Cleansweep

Chapter 14- Atop his Cleansweep

Disclaimer: It's all J.K.'s.

Curran Davies watched as a group of Beauxbatons fourth years walked across the grounds from their greenhouses. He eyed each of the girls, but decided they were all too young. He had seen a few older girls he could ask to the Yule Ball, but they had all been asked. He decided that he wouldn't make any progress in finding a date if he stayed in the air during all his free time. He had been out flown by no less than three Beauxbatons students and one Durmstrang boy already and didn't know why he kept letting himself embarrass himself.

He landed on the roof of the Hogwarts Express and climbed into his compartment through the window. He re-checked his options in his head. There was Stella Kuo, but he wouldn't want her to think they were more than friends. He heard Lena Grogan still hadn't been asked, but he didn't want to go with such a stuck-up beautiful goddess; anyway, they had already gone out before and she dumped him. Dawn Parkinson was still single, but if he went with her, the consequences were the possible mugging from her personal bodyguard, Malcolm Baddock, and the Hogwarts Champion, Dennis Creevey. There was no way he would consider asking tiny Vidya Tummala.

The only Hogwarts girl who had been asked, to everyone's surprise, except for Creevey's, was Theresa Whitby. It had been the Durmstrang Champion who had asked her. She had said yes before anyone's jaw could drop. Curran didn't understand what made Brutus Maximus ask her. He could have asked any Beauxbaton girl and gone with a beautiful sight to behold, but he decided on a chubby Hufflepuff. It wasn't that Curran had anything against Theresa, quite the contrary, but he thought he would get a date before she did.

His brother had taken Fleur Delacour to the Yule Ball at Hogwarts five years ago. It didn't seem to fit that his brother could score such a date and he couldn't get anyone to go with him. He heard a loud explosion in the room across from his, and opened his door to see Theresa and her tiny younger brother yelling at one another. Smoke was floating out of Theresa's room. Curran stepped into the hall and closed his door. He walked to the dining car to hopefully get a snack.

In the Dining car, Grogan and Parkinson were laughing in what had become their corner ever since Harry Potter had appeared after the first task. Behind Curran, Baddock walked into the room. He headed beeline for Parkinson.

"Move it Muddy," Baddock said to Grogan. Grogan rolled her eyes and walked to the table. "So, Dawn, if you don't have a date for the Yule Ball, I was wondering if you'd…"

"I have a date, Malcolm," Parkinson said.

"Wonderful…" Baddock took a moment to realize she hadn't said yes. "What? Who?"

"Leo asked me last night," Parkinson said.

Baddock looked ready to kill. He would have been able to ask Grogan if he hadn't just called her Muddy. Curran finally noticed Creevey had walked into the room not long after Baddock. He had just saved himself from the embarrassment of getting shot down by Parkinson.

To his surprise, Creevey pulled Grogan into the hall, and Curran could just hear him ask her to the Ball. Curran rolled his eyes. Everyone would have a date by the time he got around to asking someone. He stood up and walked out of the train and onto the grounds. He found a tree by the lake and laid against it. It had been a rainy time, but there hadn't been any snow and it was warm enough to go out without a thick coat, though the French students wore their winter coats.

He watched a few girls come out of the Beauxbatons castle and sit by the lake. They were all shivering and had their cloaks wrapped tightly around them. Curran stood just as one of them screamed. Something grabbed a girl with silvery hair and pulled her under the water. Her friends began screaming, not knowing that something lived in the lake with tentacles. The girl resurfaced in the middle of the lake, face down and not moving. Curran pulled off his shoes and cloak and jumped in.

The water was so cold, it stung, but Curran wasn't thinking about that. He was only thinking about saving the girl who had been pulled into the lake. He reached her, flipped her onto her back and pulled her back to the closest shore.

Her friends were all yelling in rapid-fire French, which Curran couldn't understand so he ignored them. The girl wasn't breathing, so Curran quickly recalled from Muggle Studies that Muggles could give "rescue breathing" for a drowning victim called CPR. He tilted her head back, pinched her nose, and blew air into the mouth of the girl. After the second breath, the girl coughed up water and began breathing on her own accord.

Curran calmed down and took a good look at the girl. She couldn't be older than thirteen, but she was beautiful. She also looked very familiar; she looked just like Fleur Delacour. He realized that she must be Fleur's little sister.

"One of you, get a nurse," Curran said to the French girls. "Tell her to bring some blankets." One girl obeyed and ran to the castle. Fifteen minutes later, Curran and the girl were wrapped in blankets sitting in the infirmary as the nurse looked for a potion that would warm them up. The girl had finally gained consciousness.

"Zank you," she said timidly.

"It was my pleasure," Curran said. "What happened?"

"Zere iz a new octopus zat I forgot about," the girl said. "It pulled me in."

"Are you Fleur Delacour's little sister?" Curran asked. The girl nodded. "What's your name?"

"Gabrielle." She looked at him with her large eyes.

"My name's Curran," Curran said.

"It iz nize to meet you Curran," Gabrielle said. Her voice was sweet.

Curran suddenly had a crazy idea. He had nothing to lose, except respect, and if Beauxbatons did the Yule Ball the same way as Hogwarts had, she wouldn't be able to go without an older date. And he was only four years older, which truly wasn't that bad.

"Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?" Curran asked.

Gabrielle blushed. Curran didn't know why he asked. They hardly knew each other. She probably already had a date, and three guys waiting in line, hoping her date would wind up with a horrible disease so they could take her.

"I'd love to," she said.

She walked to the bed he was on and sat next to him. "Why were you at ze lake?" Gabrielle asked. "You are zo handzome, yet you were all alone."

"I guess that's exactly why I was," Curran said. "I was alone. I managed to lose track of my friends while I was practicing my flying earlier and didn't know where else I could go for some time to think." Curran looked at the beautiful girl. "I hope you don't think I'm too much of a loser."

"Not at all," she replied. "I would 'ave gone alone myzelf, but my friendz wanted to be with me becauze zey say I attract Durmztrang boyz."

"You could say that you attract octopus," Curran said. "And Hogwarts boys too."

"Well, if you are only a boy," Gabrielle said, "I do not know if I want you to take me to ze ball."

"Would you rather I be a man?" Curran asked.

"If you are a man, you are too old for me."

"How about a teenager?"

"Zat I can live with," Gabrielle said. She leaned toward Curran and kissed his cheek.


	15. Cowy Hares: The Yule Ball

Chapter 15- Big Cowy Things that Jump like Hares: Yule Ball

Disclaimer: You know who owns Harry Potter, and it's not me.

Lena was just about finished getting ready for the ball. Her hair had taken her a good two hours, and then she did half an hour of make-up. She even helped Theresa with her hair because Theresa wanted to look perfect for Brutus Maximus. At least as perfect as a chub-ball Hufflepuff could look, Lena noted to herself.

But Lena wasn't focused on her slight good deed. She was only focused on the fact that if she was going to win Dennis, tonight was the night. Her dress gown was extremely binding, but it matched her light green eyes perfectly. Lena just had one more addition to her outfit and it would be perfect. She opened a small bag that she had gotten in Paris and pulled out a necklace. She put it on and smiled. What male in his right mind would be able to resist her now? She just couldn't believe that she had paid ten whole galleons for the necklace. It didn't even have any magical powers, which she could tell; she couldn't read the French of the package it came in.

She waited a few more moments before walking out the door. Down the hall, all the other students were gathered in the dining car. Lena stood a little straighter and walked toward the voices wearing a seductive smile.

"You look," Dennis said when she walked in the room, "wow. Amazing."

Dennis looked as handsome as ever, wearing gold and red robes. His hair was not as messy as usual, but was still the same look that Peter Briggs had picked up during the summer. A smile crept across Dennis's face.

"Thank you," Lena said, "you don't look half bad yourself." She held her hand slightly in front of her and Dennis took it, kissed it, and led her out the door. Dumbledore had just begun to make his way across the grounds now that all the students were ready for the dance. Those who had dates from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, in other words, Theresa and Curran Davies, were already at the doors to the ballroom with their date, while the rest had to wait behind.

Lena looked at the other Hogwart's students. Parkinson was in indigo dress robes that were slightly loose on her, but still managed to look beautiful, even if her hair was just down. Her date, Leo Pasts, was in black and silver dress robes and his head had been recently shaved.

The rest of the students were going without dates. Stella, in red silk robes, Dwight Frost, in perfectly ironed white robes, and Kevin, in garish orange robes, had formed a small group to save themselves from embarrassment. Lena thought to herself that Frost didn't need a date because he had a girlfriend back at Hogwarts. Finally, Baddock, in black robes, was going stag, even though Vidya Tummala, in heavily beaded forest green robes, was tagging along as if she was his date.

Once they arrived at the palace, Dennis and Lena were lead through the crowd waiting for the ballroom to open. They met the other two champions and their dates there. Theresa, in her pink dress robes, smiled at Lena in a silent 'thank you' for helping with her hair. Lena smiled in return, then turned back to Dennis.

"Excited?" Lena asked.

"I am, actually," Dennis replied. Lena squeezed his hand and rested her head on his shoulder while waiting for the doors to open.

The five judges slowly arrived, and once they had arrived, the doors magically opened to show the gold, silver, and crystal ballroom. Lena's eyes sparkled at the amazing sight lit by thousands of fairies flying freely.

Music began to play, and the judges led everyone in. The champions had to dance before the dinner would be served, which Lena was glad about. Once she and Dennis were in the middle of the dance floor, she placed her left hand on Dennis's shoulder, and held his other hand in her right. They began to dance to the music, same as the other champions and their dates.

"This is nice," Lena said. Dennis nodded, hardly looking at her. Lena reached up and turned his head toward her and tried to smile sweetly; she doubted she could due to the fact that she practiced her seductive smile so often her face would automatically spring to that.

"This _is_ nice," Dennis said, this time looking at her. Lena tried to take a step closer to him, but tripped over her own toes. He caught her before she could hit the ground. "And I see you're back to you old trips."

Lena could feel herself blush. She couldn't remember the last time she had blushed. "I probably look like a tomato now, with a red face, and hair."

"I think you look human," Dennis said. "Quite possibly more human than you've looked in a long time. It's been a while since you showed any signs of embarrassment, and, as much as we wish it wasn't true, humans are quite easily embarrassed. Anyway, you're not blushing that much."

Lena smiled, and, very carefully, inched closer to Dennis as they continued to dance. She wanted him to kiss her. However, she knew that he wouldn't at the present time… but maybe, if she played her cards right, by the end of the dance…

The song ended and all the couples bowed or curtsied to their partner, then made their way to the tables. Dennis and Lena took the end of the table set up for the champions, judges, and all their dates… if they had them, as a few judges didn't.

After a delicious meal, Lena was finally getting used to the French food, the music started back up. She took a sip of her pumpkin juice and turned to see Dennis standing and extending a hand toward her. She stood and followed Dennis to the dance floor.

Now the dancing was a lot less formal than it had been before dinner. The music was much more up-tempo, and Lena didn't care that she was in heels as she began to dance with Dennis. She held onto Dennis's shoulders so she wouldn't fall again. Lena couldn't think of anything that would be more embarrassing.

After a few songs, Lena was almost out of breath; the music stopped for a moment and began playing a familiar Christmas song. When the actual singing began, Lena couldn't help herself from spinning to face the stage. All the girls turned to the stage. Peter Briggs was singing, right there, not more than twenty feet from her.

"Dennis," Lena cried, "it's Peter Briggs. Can you believe it?" She knew she sounded like a crazy, obsessed girl, but she didn't care. She grabbed Dennis's face and pulled him into a quick kiss before turning back to Peter Briggs.


	16. Kevin's mouth Got a Screw or Two Loose

Chapter 16- Kevin Tries to Keep his Big Mouth Shut: Someone's got a Screw or Two Loose

Kevin had been five seconds away from dancing with a pretty Beauxbatons girl, when Peter Briggs began to sing, and she screamed and joined the mob of girls trying to get to the stage. Kevin sighed and leaned against the back wall. He stared out into the crowd to see Dennis approaching from the mob of girls. He was wearing a goofy happy smile, as if Dawn had just proclaimed her love to him, which Kevin doubted would ever happen.

"Something good happen?" Kevin asked.

"Wonderful," Dennis said. "I'm in love."

"You told me that months ago," Kevin said. He turned to look at Dennis. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Better than okay," Dennis sighed. He conjured up a chair and sat down. "I feel like I could fly."

"If you really wanted to, I'm sure Davies would let you borrow his broom," Kevin said.

"She's so beautiful."

"Davies?" Kevin asked quite concerned.

"Lena," Dennis said.

"Oh," Kevin said. After a moment, the name clicked. "What about Dawn?"

"Who?"

"The girl you came on this trip to get to know better and spend time with," Kevin said. "Dawn Parkinson. Long black hair, blue eyes, Slytherin. Any of that ringing any bells in your head."

"Look at her," Dennis said. "I'm in love."

Kevin knew something was very wrong with Dennis. Sure, he had asked Lena to the ball, but that was only because Dawn had gotten a date before he could ask her. And, after a few hours, Dennis was in love with Lena? He wondered if Lena had used a love potion, but then he realized that Lena would never sink that low. If she couldn't get a guy based on looks and flirting, she would smear his name in the mud so that he couldn't get any girl, not to mention her.

"Dennis, what happened to make you realize you're in love with her?" Kevin asked.

"Who is he in love with," Tummala's voice sounded behind the two boys, "if he's not in love with you? Another Mudblood perhaps?"

"You, actually," Kevin said. He was proud, he had just come up with an insult… wait, what wasn't an insult, more of a complement. But he had been a bit witty.

Tummala's face screwed up and she looked slightly sick. "Gross!" she shrieked and ran off.

It was an insult! At least to a stuck-up Pureblood like Tummala.

"Well," Kevin turned back to Dennis.

"I've loved her as long as I can remember," Dennis said in a dreamy voice.

"How long can you remember back to?" Kevin asked.

"About three minutes ago," Dennis said as if was nothing out of the ordinary.

"And what happened at that exact moment you can remember back to?"

"Lena kissed me." Dennis sighed again, staring into the crowd of females trying to get as close as possible to Peter Briggs. Lena had made it all the way to the edge of the stage. Surprisingly, Kevin noticed that Dawn was not part of that crowd, but was at a table with Leo Pasts and Baddock.

"Are you sure you don't remember who Dawn is?" Kevin asked, turning Dennis's head in Dawn's direction.

"Dawn who?"

"Never mind," Kevin said. Peter Briggs finished his song and disappeared. The crowd of girls spread out and they all rejoined their dates or sat at tables. Kevin saw Lena approaching. So did Dennis, who jumped to his feet and ran to meet her.

Kevin followed. "May I have a word with you for a moment, Lena?" Kevin asked.

"Right…"

"Yes," Kevin said. "Right now." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a secluded corner of the ballroom. "What did you do to him?"

"What do you mean?" Lena asked.

"Let's see," Kevin said rolling his eyes. "He's acting just like someone put a love spell on him and he is now obsessed with you. He can only remember back to when you kissed him."

"I can't remember much that happened before forth year either," Lena said.

"When you kissed him a minute ago," Kevin corrected himself.

Lena lifted an eyebrow, then bent close to Kevin. "Are you jealous or something?"

"Why does everyone assume I'm queer?"

"I was actually wondering if you were jealous of him," Lena said, "but now that you mention it…"

"No, I'm not jealous," Kevin snapped, face flushing. "I'm worried about him. He's had a hard time recently. You know what happened over summer break."

"That is true," Lena said. Kevin and Lena looked back at Dennis, who was staring at the two of them, but hadn't moved an inch. "I'd better get back to him so _he_ doesn't get jealous. Talk to you later, Kevin." She blew a kiss toward him.

Kevin swore he could feel the kiss land on his cheek, and suddenly felt his knees get weak. He couldn't help but notice how pretty Lena was. No, pretty wasn't the word. She was _hot!_

What was getting into him? He didn't like Lena. He didn't fancy anyone. Except for maybe Stella Kuo. She was cute and smart, but they bickered a bit. Okay, they bickered a lot. But that was only because neither had matured when it came to expressing emotions.

Kevin scanned the ballroom and saw Stella bobbing her head to the beat of the music and standing with Frost, Theresa, and Brutus Maximus. He took a step forward, but then her eyes turned to look at him, and he froze up. He decided for his own safety that he should retreat back to the punch bowl.

Kevin stared back into the crowd of dancers at his friend dancing with the sexiest girl on… scratch that, Lena. It was just Lena, the girl who got everything she wanted because she deserved it and was just beautiful like that… scratch that also. Kevin stared at his friend, doing everything he could to not think about Lena, and her beautiful locks of red hair, and mischievous green eyes, and her magnificent body that looked perfect in everything she wore… He was thinking about her again.

"Looks like someone is jealous," his sister's voice sounded from behind him. He spun to see she was pouring herself a small class of punch. She was also sweating quite profusely.

"Is it a conspiracy against me or something that all the girls know to say the same thing that isn't true but is still very annoying?" Kevin snapped. "Do you send messages through the ground?"

"No," Theresa replied. "You were just squinting you eyes at you only friend… or were you squinting your eyes at…"

"No," Kevin yelled. He hadn't realized the music stopped briefly as Madame Maxime stepped onto the stage to make an announcement. "I am not queer!"

There was a moment of complete silence, followed by Baddock yelling, "Good to know as long as you're on the same train as I am."


	17. Cowythings and Warning Labels

Chapter 17- Big Cowy Things that Jump Like Hares: Why Reading the Warnings Is Usually a Good Thing

Disclaimer: All Hail J.K. Rowling!

Lena couldn't believe she had successfully completed her mission to get Dennis to fall in love with her, and in one night too. In fact, by the end of the Yule Ball, Dennis couldn't keep his mouth away from her lips or his hands off her hips. She was basking in the attention.

As the Yule Ball drew to a close, Lena decided she didn't want to go to the Hogwarts Express quite yet, so she and Dennis slipped away from the crowd and found a nice little ditch to lie in until the field was clear of all other students. The whole time they were hiding, Dennis couldn't help but kiss her and stroke her hair, and Lena couldn't help but let him. After all, this is what she wanted from him.

It took about a half hour before everyone was out of the field, but as soon as the coast was clear, Lena stood back up and teased Dennis as he tried to catch her. She, however, was so used to heels, that she ran as if she were in sneakers, and with her long legs she kept a fairly nice distance ahead of Dennis.

When Dennis finally caught her again, they fell to the ground in laughter, before he began to kiss her again.

She played along with him, until she felt him try to push up her skirt and get between her legs. She pushed him off her and stood.

"Dennis Creevey!" she said, "there will be none of that."

"Lena," Dennis cried, crawling towards her on his hands and knees. "I'm in love with you. Let's get married and have loads of children together."

"We are seventeen," Lena said. "We have a year and a half of school left and I'm not even your girlfriend." She usually would have added the word yet, but if she had, he would have asked her out on the spot and then tried his little scheme again.

Lena turned around and began walking to the Hogwarts Express, waiting for Dennis to come after her. He reached her just before she got to the door. "I need you," Dennis said spinning her to face him. "Don't you see that I can't live without you? Do you care?"

Lena tried to take a step away from Dennis, but he pulled her close and held her tightly. She tried a new approach. "Dennis, can we talk about this tomorrow? I'm getting rather tired."

Dennis let her go, though his eyes were digging into her. "I love you," he said.

"No," Lena said, "you don't. Something has messed with your head."

Lena turned and walked into the train. Dennis was right behind her. She began walking to the door that led to the sleeping compartment, but Dennis grabbed her and whispered in her ear, "Do you love me?"

"No," Lena said, freeing herself from his grip. She glanced around the room. The only other people were Baddock and Tummala. Dennis took a step closer again, so Lena took a bold move. She walked over to Baddock. "And I'll prove it," Lena said. Baddock looked up at her, rolled his eyes, but before he could get back to what he was doing, Lena grabbed the collar of his robes and pulled him into a kiss.

Lena was the only one able to move for a moment after she let go of Baddock. She could not believe what she had just done to prove she wasn't in love. She had kissed what she considered to be the worst human being on earth. She began to make her way to the bathroom so she could brush her teeth, but someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a kiss. It was Baddock. He _wanted_ to kiss her.

Baddock held her tightly, and Lena couldn't escape from him as much as she tried. His tongue fought its way past her lips and worked its way around her mouth. He pushed her into a wall and allowed his hands to travel down her arms and grab her wrists.

A few moments later, Baddock was pulled off her. Dennis had an odd glare in his eyes. He and Baddock began to wrestle, so Lena scrambled out of the room. She closed the door to the hall behind her, hearing two people scramble after her. She held it closed with all her might and Baddock and Dennis banged on the door, yelling at her to let them in. This was turning into a disaster.

"Help," she yelled. At first, only Kevin stuck his head out of the door. He, however, stared at her for a second, then scrunched his eyes and shook his head, muttering to himself.

Lena heard Baddock mutter a spell for unlocking doors. Lena quickly locked it again, not having her wand on her at the moment, and then screamed for help again. This time, Pasts and Frost both came out of their rooms.

"What's wrong?" Frost asked.

"They're after me," Lena cried, hearing Baddock and Dennis this time, using two different spells on the door. She locked it again, tears pouring out of her eyes. "They're mad and they want me."

"Go to your room," Frost said, pulling his wand out and magically locking the door with a powerful spell. "Pasts, have Parkinson join her to comfort her until we can get these two to calm down." Frost then pounded on a door and yelled, "Davies, get out here and help me keep these two away from Lena."

Lena scrambled into her room, tears still falling from her eyes. Parkinson came in a second later.

"What's up with those two?" Parkinson asked.

"I don't know," Lena said. "Dennis suddenly wanted more from me than I am willing to give, and then I tried to discourage him from coming onto me again by kissing Baddock, but then he pushed me against a wall and wouldn't stop kissing me."

"Malcolm," Parkinson asked, "willing kissed you?" Lena nodded. "Did you use any…?"

"No," Lena yelled, "that's why I'm freaking out. I don't know what's causing them to act so strange."

Lena closed the door to her room after hearing what sounded suspiciously like the door blowing up. A few seconds later, she could hear Davies, Frost, and Pasts dueling Dennis and Baddock. Lena grabbed her wand and magically locked her door.

After a few minutes, the hall grew quiet. Parkinson reached for the door, wand in hand.

"Be careful, Dawn," Lena said. "It might just be the quiet before the storm."

"If it was Malcolm or Creevey left, he would have tried to break down the door by now," Parkinson said. She unlocked the door, but as she twisted the doorknob, the door flew open so quickly that it hit her forehead and knocked her down. Baddock walked in, stepped over Parkinson, and closed in on Lena. He pushed her onto her bed and grabbed both her wrists in one hand.

"Get off me," Lena yelled. She tried to aim her wand at him, but he grabbed it from her and threw it onto the ground.

"You are so beautiful," Baddock said. "I am going to enjoy this."

"Stupefy," Stella's voice sounded, but Baddock wasn't affected. Lena screamed, trying to get Baddock off her. "Take off your necklace," Stella said. She grabbed one of Baddock's arms, Theresa grabbed the other. Once Lena had a free hand, she unhooked her necklace and pulled it off her neck. Baddock's eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed, falling onto Lena.

Lena pushed him off her. She looked at Stella and asked, "How did you know that would do that?"

"Your necklace has been the only thing on my mind all night," Stella said. "I knew something involving it would happen. I didn't know it would be that."

"I get that feeling all the time, but it never means anything," Lena said.

"But you're not a Seer, are you," Theresa said.

Stella rolled her eyes and turned to Parkinson. She quickly performed a Comforting Charm and helped Parkinson to her feet. Lena jumped from her bed and grabbed the packaging of the necklace.

"What does that say?" Lena asked.

Parkinson read it over a few times, and then handed back to Lena. She then said, "It says that the necklace will cause anyone kissed by the wearer to fall madly in love with the wearer until the necklace it taken off. Maybe you should have asked what it said before you bought it."

"I hate warning labels," Lena said. She looked at Baddock on the ground. "Can we get him out of my room?" The other three girls nodded. The dragged him to the hall. The other guys were all lying on the ground, having been hit by some sort of spell during the duel. The girls set to work dragging each guy to the correct room.


	18. Good Boy: The Morning After

Chapter 18- Good Boy: The Morning After

Dennis woke the next morning to a splitting headache, remembering the night before as if it was a movie playing in his head. He couldn't believe what he had done to Lena, and he couldn't understand why he had done it. Most of all, he feared facing her at breakfast. She was going to slap him, hard. Worst of all, he deserved it.

However, as he was changing, his door opened and Lena walked in.

"Shit, Lena," Dennis said hoarsely holding a shirt over his privates. "Don't you know about knocking?"

"Not really," Lena said. She sat on his bed and looked at him. Her clothes suggested that she was willing to forget what had happened the night before. "I need to talk to you…"

"If it's about yesterday, I am so sorry about what I did," Dennis pleaded.

"No," Lena said standing. She began to pace the room. "It's my fault. You see, my necklace, I didn't know this at the time, but it has powers. Anyone I kissed fell madly in love with me until I took the necklace off. That's why you thought you loved me. That's why Baddock suddenly fell in love with me when I kissed him. That's why Kevin began acting weird, because I blew him a kiss."

"You put a spell on me?" Dennis asked.

"I didn't mean to," Lena said. She faced him as she continued to talk. "It's like last year, when you sneezed and accidentally turned Flitwick's hair hot pink because your wand flicked in his direction. Accidents happen all the time."

"So you kissed me by accident?" Dennis asked.

"No," Lena said, "that wasn't an accident. The accident was the spell."

"So…"

"I meant to kiss you," Lena said. "And I really want to again." Lena took a few steps toward him. He tried to back away, but found that a wall was not more than an inch behind him. Lena put her hands on his shoulders and got onto her toes before kissing him.

Dennis couldn't help but close his eyes. His mouth worked in perfect sync with Lena's. Before he knew what was happening, they had fallen to the bed. He didn't know why he wasn't covering himself with the shirt anymore, or why he reaching his hands under Lena's shirt. Well, he actually did, but was trying to tell himself he was imagining it all. The only problem was that it was not his imagination, not by a long shot.

He and Lena rolled so that he was holding himself over Lena and he found that in what seemed a moment, she had lost all of her clothing. Of course, what his head was saying was very different from what his body was saying, and he waited a moment before he moved.

"Dennis," Kevin's voice called through the door and the entire surreal mood was ruined. Dennis crawled off the bed and grabbed his clothes as Kevin continued talking. "Are you planning on coming out anytime soon? The rest of us are waiting for you before we start the whole Christmas thing. And do you know where Lena is?"

"No," Dennis called through the door. "I'll be out in a minute or two, so don't wait up for me."

Dennis finished pulling his clothing on and tossed Lena what she had lost during their tumble. He didn't understand what she wanted. He clearly remembered that the night before, she had pushed him away from her when tried to get under her skirt, and now that he was back in an almost normal state of mind, she wanted him again.

He figured that she was using that as a ticket only if she couldn't get him any other way. Last night, she had him, but now he wasn't crazily obsessed with her anymore. He left his room allowing Lena to get dressed alone. Dennis took a detour to the restroom and splashed some cold water on his face before anything else.

By the time he came to the dining car, Lena was already sitting between Lena and Stella. She said something to Stella and Stella replied what looked like, "I told you he wouldn't." Since when did Lena and Stella sit with one another?

Dennis sat near Kevin and leaned against the wall. Dumbledore smiled at him and began passing out presents from under the tree which had appeared overnight. Dennis was surprised that he received eight presents. One from Kevin, two from his friends that were still at Hogwarts, four from his family, and the last wasn't signed.

Kevin and Dennis had given each other the same gifts every year since their second year; Kevin gave Dennis a large box of Honeydukes assorted chocolate and Dennis gave Kevin enough fireworks for a large commotion that Kevin always used the last day of the holiday before school started again. Dennis's other friends got him a book on advanced spells for all sorts of situations and a bag full of Zonko's products. His family sent him clothes, and a lot of it.

The gift from the mystery person came in a small box. It wasn't wrapped, it just had a string tied around it to keep it from opening before he intended to. When no one was looking, Dennis untied the string and opened a small box. Inside was something he recognized. It was an identity bracelet that had been his dad's. However, Colin had found it a few summers back and wore it because it was labeled, "Creevey." Dennis always wanted to wear it, but Colin had it on every time Dennis tried dig through Colin's trunk looking for it.

Now it was his. He knew exactly who had sent him the gift. Dennis looked up at Dumbledore, catching his eye. Dumbledore didn't turn his head, but rather winked as Dennis fastened the bracelet around his wrist.

"What's that?" Dawn asked as Dennis fingered the bracelet fifteen minutes later when everyone was eating a large breakfast.

Dennis looked at the bracelet, and then turned to look at Dawn. He was surprised when he met her eyes. Her beautiful indigo eyes didn't flinch looking into the eyes of a Muggle-born. "It was Colin's," Dennis said. "Just a bit of memory of him."

Dawn smiled sweetly and nodded.


	19. Diet Today, Pig Out Tomorrow

Chapter 19- Diet Today, Pig Out Tomorrow

Classes had started again and Theresa Whitby decided that she wouldn't eat lunch until the summer returned. She figured that she would be inside, not moving all day, so to eat a lunch she wouldn't work off would only make her gain more weight.

Of course, her bratty brother was pigging out again. Theresa watched as he stuffed his third piece of pie down his throat. It had always been like this. Theresa and her mother were both on the heavier side. Her father and older brother were both tall and broad shouldered. And Kevin was always going to be a mouse in the family. However, that also meant he would always be thin.

She wouldn't mind looking three or more years younger than her actual age if she could be thin.

Just as Theresa decided that one little piece of the delicious looking pie wouldn't hurt, Lena Grogan walked into the room. How Theresa despised Grogan. Not because Grogan was mean to her, even though she had a tendency to be so once in a while, but because the girl had the perfect figure. At least the other girls weren't thin _and_ C-cups. They were just thin. But Grogan was a personified red-headed Venus to every guy with a penis.

Wait, that was every guy, straight or queer.

"Good morning, everyone," Grogan deceived the room in a cheery voice, making them all believe she wasn't the spawn of Satan.

Theresa pulled her hand away from the pie.

"That pie does look delicious," Grogan said. She took a large slice of it, leaving just enough for the Headmaster.

"Shouldn't you eat healthier foods before desert?" Theresa asked.

"Who are you to be giving her health tips?" Malcolm Baddock asked. It seemed that he had washed his hair recently because Stella Kuo managed to look up from her food at him without gagging. He continued, "Just because you're the size of a baby whale doesn't mean you should make every other girl that size too. I already have to look at one giant Mudblood. Don't try to double the number."

"Malcolm, that was very rude," Dawn Parkinson said in a sweet voice. What kind of person says that in a _sweet_ voice; or rather, what kind of Slytherin says that at all?

"Truth hurts, Dawn," Vidya Tummala cackled.

Theresa turned red. She could hear Kevin and Dennis Creevey whisper a countdown to her explosion of anger.

"Don't make me sit on you," Theresa yelled. "Believe me, I will sacrifice these pants to squash a bit of trash like you. And don't you dare call me fat, Baddock. At least I have the decency to shower more than once a week."

"Calm down there, Lard," Baddock said. "You'll give yourself a heart attack."

Theresa whipped out her wand and pointed it at Baddock's crotch.

"I'll blow it off if you open your mouth again."

"Miss Whitby," Dumbledore's inquisitive voice floated into the room. Theresa dropped her wand, knowing that she was in trouble.

"I'm sorry Professor," Theresa said, hand shaking. "I-I… he-he was…" Theresa's lip began to tremble.

"Professor," Baddock said eyes wide open. "You're not going to let her get away with trying to destroy the line of my family. Are you?"

"Nothing was hurt," Dumbledore said. "Please learn to respect one another. We still have until June to spend with each other." A smile climbed onto Dumbledore's face. Baddock grabbed Theresa's wand and handed it back to her, though he did so with a frown.

"May I please be excused?" Theresa asked. "I told Brutus I would meet him before classes this morning."

"You may," Dumbledore said. "I am glad you have made a connection with a student from another culture."

Theresa grabbed her cloak and ran outside. Rather, she quickly trotted outside. Running wasn't really her style, or within her ability. Brutus, as promised, was waiting by lake for her. However, he was holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers that he held out to her when she arrived.

"For the perfect girl," Brutus said, "flovers that do not compare to her beauty."

"Thank you Brutus," Theresa said, accepting the bouquet. "They're lovely."

"Not as lovely as you," Brutus said. He took her hand and placed a kiss upon it. "Might I ask you a question?"

"You may do whatever you want," Theresa said.

"Then, vill you be my girlfriend?" Brutus asked.

"Oh, Brutus," Theresa said as she hugged him around the neck. "Of course I will."

"Then you vill vant to be von of the nine persons I haf to rescue during the next task?" Brutus asked.

"The what?" Theresa asked.

"Has Dennis not read the back of the map yet?" Brutus asked. "Ve each haf to create a team of ten students, including ourselves, for the next task."

"I don't believe he has," Theresa said. "But his stupidity will not prevent me from being part of your team."

Ten minutes later, Theresa was walking into the Hogwarts Express only classroom and joined all her fellow students in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She leaned over to talk to Stella and asked, "Do you know if Dennis has looked at the map he got during the first task?"

Stella snorted slightly and replied, "That would be a responsible thing and we both know that Dennis is everything but responsible."


	20. Atop his Cleansweep: Big Requests

Chapter 20- Atop his Cleansweep: Big Requests

Disclaimer: I am not claiming I own this, but really wish I did.

Curran sat watching as everyone began throwing snowballs at one another. It had snowed the night before, and it was the first afternoon since they had been there that the snow wasn't almost all melted by the time their lessons were over. In fact, it was still snowing.

Curran took a snowball to the face. "Come join the fun, Curran," Theresa Whitby yelled. Since she had been asked to the Yule Ball by Brutus Maximus from Durmstrang, Theresa had lost five pounds, even if it looked like more. She also looked naturally happier, which made her look younger and nicer.

"Not this time," Curran yelled, taking another snowball to the face from Stella Kuo. It had been one of the few snowballs Stella had not aimed at Kevin Whitby.

Speaking of which, Kevin was about soaked, constantly getting pelted by Creevey, Grogan, Stella, Theresa, and Dwight Frost along with the occasional snowball from a Slytherin because, in all truthfulness, he deserved a lot. Well, maybe not a lot, considering he had only successfully hit Creevey once, and a tree, but he had started the war.

It was still another three days before the second task, but Dennis had everything figured out, at least that was what he had told everyone. He had assembled a team of ten, consisting of all the Hogwarts students aside from Theresa, and would be in someway 'saving' them, but from what, he didn't know quite yet. That part would be a surprise.

Curran was not a fan of surprises. When he woke one morning during the summer as an eleven-year-old and his mother tried to surprise him with his Hogwarts letter, he became so excited that the oatmeal that was supposed to feed the whole family, including three cousins, two aunts, an uncle, and two grandparents blew up and ended up on the ceiling and walls. On his 14th birthday, he woke up to seven sets of eyes staring down on him. He freaked out and his bed had to be replaced after the damage. And just last year, when he came into the Common Room on his birthday and every Ravenclaw yelled "Surprise!" in unison, Dumbledore had to seriously consider changing the Ravenclaw color from blue to violet to match everyone's face. Luckily, it only took a week to fade.

Usually he was fine, as long as the surprise was directed at someone else. If he had been pulled under the lake water in December instead of Gabrielle, the Durmstrang ship would have had a new permanent home, under water.

After the snowball fight had calmed down and everyone began to shiver from the cold, they all returned to the Hogwarts Express. There, Stella had the sense to conjure up hot chocolate for everyone. Curran allowed his to cool for several minutes as everyone began drinking. They were all also burning their tongues. Finally, he took a sip, and it was just the right temperature.

"I can't wait for the next task," Kevin said in a high voice.

"I can imagine," Baddock said. "Who wouldn't want to be saved by their lover?"

Everyone groaned, knowing what was coming next.

"For the last time, Baddock," Kevin yelled, "I am not queer."

"Would you two just drop that already?" Curran asked. "If I didn't know any better, Baddock, I might think that you're accusing Kevin of what you are."

"But you do know better," Baddock said.

"Think about those that don't," Curran finished.

Baddock sneered, but the shrinking of his ego was almost visible.

When Curran finished his drink, he left to go to his room. He heard someone behind him. He tried to stay calm, but when he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard someone say his name, he jumped and all the doors to the sleeping compartments fell from their place in the frame.

"Glad I'm not Baddock," Creevey said, peering into the Slytherin's mess of a room. Curran was still calming down, so Creevey waved his wand and fixed the doors as best he could.

"You wanted something, I presume," Curran said.

"Oh, yeah," Creevey said. "Could I borrow your broom for the task? We're allowed a broom and wand, and I figure that if we're allowed a broom, it's going to be because they will be very useful."

"Uh…" Curran thought for a moment. "Sure, you can borrow it."

Creevey smiled. "Thanks." He left back to the dining cart.

Curran looked at Creevey's job of fixing the doors. He waved his own wand, straightening them all and making sure they wouldn't fall.


	21. Good Boy: Second Task

Chapter 21- Good Boy: Second Task

Disclaimer: I am not J.K.Rowling

The morning of the second task, Dennis was able to eat a lot more than he had before the first task. He was a little more confident. Finally, the teams were called to a field in front of the castle. They all had to give their wands to their headmaster, aside from the Champions. The teams stood waiting, while Hintz had one final talk with the Champions.

"Each of you and your teams will be on a boat in the ocean," he said. "You position will be marked with an X on the map as soon as you arrive. You must transport each of your team members to the island on the map before your boat sinks. The boats will be undetectable to Muggles, but as soon as something leaves the boat, Muggles will be able to see it. Avoid all Muggles and get all the members to the island on time and you win. Remember, Muggles will be able to see people floating in the water once the boat is under."

He nodded and the Champions went to join their team. They all grabbed onto the map, which whooshed them away. They landed with a thud.

"Why are we on a ship?" Baddock yelled when the spinning stopped.

"It's the second task, Idiot," Stella laughed.

"And what does Creevey need to do in this task?" Tummala asked.

"Get you all safely from this boat to this island ten kilometers away, making sure that Muggles in the surrounding waters won't see anything suspicious," Dennis said. His eyes looked around the floor of the boat. "How fast does this broom go?"

"Seventy kilometers an hour for a fast rider," Curran replied.

"Better get moving then," Baddock barked. "Both other teams have."

"I can't do it," Dennis said.

"This is no time for a breakdown," Lena yelled.

"The boat is sinking," Dennis said. Every one gasped. "I can't get you all there in time." There was silence as Dennis thought, his eyes traveled to the side of the boat. He way a wooden lifeboat. "I've got it."

"Well?" Kevin asked.

"Leo, Kevin, Curran, come with me," Dennis said and traveled below deck, the three he had called closse behind. "We need a boat motor and rope. Help me search."

"Here's a boat motor," Kevin found one. "But it's got no propeller."

"That's fine," Dennis said. "It doesn't need one."

"But," Curran objected.

"Rope!" Leo yelled.

"Good," Dennis said giving the rope a good tug. "Curran, how much weight can this broom of yours pull along?"

"About the weight of fifteen people," Curran said. "But why?"

"We attach the motor to the back of the lifeboat and I drag it along with everyone in it. I can use a charm to make myself invisible so even if the Muggle see it, they won't think anything weird is going on."

"That's brilliant!" Kevin exclaimed.

"You're bloody right it is," Dennis said taking the stairs three at a time.

"You're sure you're not supposed to be in Ravenclaw with that brain?" Curran asked. "You usually don't think like this."

"Um… thanks?" Dennis said. Dennis took the motor, held it to where it needed to be and used a charm to attach it to the lifeboat. He then tied the rope to the front of the boat and then to the broom. Lastly, he cast a charm on the motor so that it would make noise.

"Pile in everyone," Kevin yelled.

"First," Dennis yelled, "Lifejackets." Dennis threw everyone a lifejacket.

"Um… no," Lena said throwing it back.

"You're wearing one or you're not going to be saved," Dennis said handing it back to her.

"You're going to save me or you're going to lose," Lena said. "Plus, the boat's full. I'll just sit on the back to the broom behind you."

Dennis looked at the boat and clenched his teeth. "Plus," Lena whispered into his ear. "I think you owe me after the whole Yule Ball incident. I might be emotionally scarred for life."

"You're pushing your luck, Lena," Dennis said. He swung one leg over the broom and Lena climbed on after him and wrapped her arms around his torso. He tapped her with his wand and then himself, casting a Disillusionment Charm on them. He made sure that the broom and rope were charmed too, and then kicked off the boat.

He wasn't the most skilled flyer ever, but he wasn't bad either. He steered clear of any signs of Muggles. He passed both Gage and Maximus as he flew. Gage didn't take too much notice, but Maximus was so confused that he accidentally flew into the water.

"How much time to I have?" Dennis asked as he saw the island come into view. He could see Madam Maxime very clearly after a few seconds.

"Fifteen minutes," Leo answered.

"So why are you speeding up?" Stella asked gripping the edge of the lifeboat.

With only a few meters from the shore, Dennis lifted the Disillusionment Charm and flew the boat into the sand. Everyone in the boat fell into one another's arms.

There was cheering and the judges all nodded approvingly. Dennis turned to help everyone out of the boat. He was surprised Stella and Baddock had both toppled into one another's arms and yet to let go. And Kevin was turning red and trying not to look at them.

"Congratulations, Dennis," Dawn said as he helped her out. She held his wrist an extra moment after she was in the sand, and then allowed her hand to slowly slip from his, trailing her fingers along his hand.

Dennis couldn't think after that and forgot to help the rest out of the boat. They all grumbled and climbed out themselves.

When the time was up, Gage only had three people rescued and Brutus was just bringing in the fourth and fifth. Rescue teams were sent out to quickly recover the rest of the people. Dennis got full points for finishing on time, avoiding Muggles, and a creative approach to the problem.

The Hogwarts Express celebrated late into the night.


	22. Psych of Dawn: Truth or Dare

Chapter 22- The Psychological Complexities of Dawn: Sleepover

Disclaimer: Owning Harry Potter does not equal me.

"Have you got it?" Whitby asked as Grogan and Kuo sneaked into Dawn's room. The four girls were celebrating the survival of another week in the best way they knew how, a sleepover. Dawn's room was chosen because it was soundproof.

"Well, yeah," Grogan said pulling out a large bottle of Fire Whiskey from her cloak. She turned to Kuo and said, "Show them what else we found."

Kuo pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid and said, "Veritaserum."

"Truth or dare, the only real way to play," Dawn laughed. "If only we had a boy or two to play that with."

"That doesn't sound half bad," Grogan smiled.

Whitby and Kuo looked at one another, then sighed. "Alright," Whitby said. "But, we each get to invite one."

"And it has to be from Hogwarts," Kuo said, "Because I don't want to wait on any Brutus Maximus. Meet back in five minutes?"

"More than enough time," Grogan said, jumping up and racing out the door. The other three weren't quite as excited. Dawn figured that Whitby would grab either Davies or Frost and Kuo would no doubt grab the other Whitby. It was clear that Grogan would have Creevey, so she would just go and grab Leo.

"Hey, Dawn," Leo said, opening the door. "You wanted something?"

"Well, a few of us are in my room, and we're about to play truth or dare," Dawn said. "Want to join in?"

Leo smiled. "You know it. Let me throw on something a little more comfortable and I'll be there in a minute."

In the end, the players were Dawn, Leo, Grogan, Creevey, Whitby, Davies, Kuo, and the other Whitby. Dawn made a mental note to start using a few first names, because there was no way she would be able to say Whitby without two responses. Also, it was just a more friendly way of addressing people.

"Who starts?" Lena asked, settling into her seat on the bed.

"How about you start," Leo said. "Truth or dare, Grogan?"

Lena thought for a moment, then said, "Dare, Pasts. Give me the best you've got."

Leo smiled. "Strip show. I dare you to do a three minute pole dance."

The three other girls groaned while the boys all had to stifle smiles of delight. Lena whipped out her wand and conjured a pole in the middle of the room. Leo conjured a three-minute hour glass, and Lena began her dance. The other three girls turned away and when the three minutes were up, Dawn turned back to see her pull on her pajamas again. Kevin had a bit of drool on his chin.

"Who's next?" Lena asked, an evil glint growing in her eye. "How about, Curran? Truth or dare?"

Curran thought a moment, then said, "Dare."

Lena leaned back and asked, "Anyone have a camera?" Theresa slowly raised her hand. "Good. I dare you to fly to the castle, and find any room with a Bauxbatons student, and snap a picture."

"Good thing it's a Polaroid," Theresa said.

Curran smiled, relieved that he wasn't going to have to masturbate or anything in front of the whole group. Theresa got him her camera, and he grabbed his broom and climbed out the window. It was several minutes later when the heard him land on the roof, and he crawled back in. He held up the picture of a girl, green mask on her face and curlers in her hair. She also was clad in a completely sheer robe, which hid nothing after the flash.

"Okay," Curran said sitting down again. "Who's next? How about… Stella."

Stella chose truth and had to admit, after taking a drop of Veritaserum, that she had never been kissed, never tried to kiss anyone, and that the only person she had ever had a crush on was Leo.

Theresa chose dare and had to decorate Malcolm's door the same a five year old girl would decorate anything, with pink, ponies, and sparkles. She also had to make it absolutely permanent.

It was Theresa who chose Dawn. Dawn chose dare. Theresa smiled.

"I dare you to play seven minutes in heaven with…" Theresa's eyes skimmed over the group. "Dennis and when he comes out, he had better be happily dazed. And no bringing in any wands to perform maximum Cheering Charms."

Dawn looked over at Dennis, who was flushing. She nodded and pulled Dennis into her tiny closet. The moment the door was closed behind her, Dawn pulled Dennis to her lips. About ten seconds after that, her hands were already untucking his shirt, she heard Theresa say "Go."

Dawn pulled Dennis out of his shirt and ran her hands up and down his toned chest several times. Dennis seemed more than happily dazed as it was, and she was just beginning to have fun. She began to nibble slightly on his lower lip as she kissed him even more passionately, earning a few moans from him. Dawn pulled herself as close to Dennis as she could and wrapped a leg around him.

After a few minutes, Dennis finally came out of his initial daze and began reacting to all her advancements. Now that he was kissing her back, she felt something odd. A spark of some sort. She had never made-out with someone as aggressively gentle as Dennis. She couldn't figure out what it was about him, but he was the best kisser she had ever kissed.

"Time," Theresa said opening the door. She looked at the two of them, and smiled. "I'd say that's a dare well done."

Dennis stepped out first, and Dawn could see his cheeks flushing in the light of the room. Dawn watched him, and then turned to hide her face from everyone else as she touched her lips. She had enjoyed kissing before, but it had never made her body tingle.


End file.
